Australia Stocks Close Lower

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, with losses in the A-REITs, Financials, and Utilities sectors dragging shares down.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.38%.

Best Performers

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were:
– Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC): rose 5.02% (0.35 points) to trade at 7.32.
– Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN): added 2.82% (0.04 points) to end at 1.27.
– Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA): up 2.93% (0.17 points) to 5.97.

Worst Performers

The worst performers of the session were:
– Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB): fell 4.86% (0.09 points) to 1.76.
– Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU): declined 5.45% (0.15 points) to 2.60.
– Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN): down 4.23% (1.55 points) to 35.10.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 591 to 517, and 436 ended unchanged.

Shares in Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) rose to 52-week highs, increasing 2.82% (0.04) to 1.27.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.68% to 10.45.

Commodities

• Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.15% (3.95) to $2,671.85 a troy ounce.
• Crude Oil for January delivery rose 0.20% (0.14) to $70.08 a barrel.
• February Brent Oil contract rose 0.20% (0.15) to trade at $73.77 a barrel.

Currency

• AUD/USD was unchanged at 0.58% to 0.64.
• AUD/JPY fell 0.13% to 96.64.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 106.28.