Australia Stock Market Update

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the IT, Industrials, and Energy sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.47%.

Best Performers

• AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE): up 4.87% or 0.56 points to trade at 12.06.
• Appen Ltd (ASX:APX): added 4.15% or 0.09 points to end at 2.26.
• Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW): up 3.52% or 0.01 points to 0.37.

Worst Performers

• South32 Ltd (ASX:S32): down 4.62% or 0.17 points to 3.51.
• IPH Ltd (ASX:IPH): declined 4.44% or 0.22 points to 4.73.
• EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML): down 3.59% or 0.04 points to 0.94.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 588 to 434 and 389 ended unchanged.

Shares in IPH Ltd (ASX:IPH) fell to 5-year lows, losing 4.44% or 0.22 to 4.73.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.93% to 10.24.

Commodities Update

• Gold Futures for February delivery: up 0.57% or 15.45 to $2,733.85 a troy ounce.
• Crude Oil for January delivery: rose 0.60% or 0.41 to hit $69.00 a barrel.
• Brent Oil contract for February: rose 0.54% or 0.39 to trade at $72.58 a barrel.

Currency Update

• AUD/USD was unchanged 0.09% to 0.64.
• AUD/JPY fell 0.36% to 96.58.
• US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 106.10.