Investing.com – Australian shares were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the , , and sectors dragged shares lower.
The index fell 0.11% at the close in Sydney.
The best performance of the session on the index came from shares of EML Payments Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.91% correspondingly by 0.06 points, trading at 0.99 at the close of trading. Meanwhile, shares of Westgold Resources Limited (ASX:) added 3.29%, or 0.08 points, ending the day at 2.36, and they Mirvac Group (ASX:), which gained 3.08% or 0.06 points at the close of trading at 1.92.
The worst performers of the session were QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:), which fell 4.74% or 0.87 points to trade at 17.50, with its shares down 17.50. Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:) fell 4.58% or 0.07 points to 1.46 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) fell 4.55% or 0.01 points to 0.21.
Falling shares outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange, 653 to 525, while 468 closed unchanged.
The , which measures the implied volatility of options on the S&P/ASX 200 index, edged back 0.59% to 10.76.
Gold futures for August delivery fell 0.14% or 3.30 to trade at $2.00 per troy ounce. Elsewhere, Crude oil for August delivery fell 0.11% or 0.09 to $80.62 per barrel, while Brent crude futures for August delivery fell 0.15% or 0.13 to trade at $85.20 per barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% at 0.67, while AUD/JPY was up 0.19% at 105.28.
In turn, the dollar futures index was unchanged 0.00% at 104.88.
