Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, IT and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.58% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:OML), which rose 23.92% or 0.720 points to trade at 3.730 at the close. Meanwhile, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) added 7.83% or 0.085 points to end at 1.170 and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) was up 2.73% or 0.250 points to 9.420 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which fell 5.13% or 0.210 points to trade at 3.880 at the close. Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX:RWC) declined 5.11% or 0.210 points to end at 3.900 and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) was down 4.81% or 0.140 points to 2.770.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 825 to 337 and 333 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.96% to 14.235 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.13% or 1.95 to $1486.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.80% or 0.45 to hit $56.55 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.85% or 0.52 to trade at $61.34 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.31% to 0.6825, while AUD/JPY fell 0.33% to 74.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 97.708.
