Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.38%

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

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

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

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which fell 4.86% or 0.09 points to trade at 1.76 at the close. Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) declined 5.45% or 0.15 points to end at 2.60 and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) was down 4.23% or 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; rising 2.82% or 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.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.15% or 3.95 to $2,671.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.20% or 0.14 to hit $70.08 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.15 to trade at $73.77 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.58% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY fell 0.13% to 96.64.

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