Australian shares fall at the close; The S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.30% by Investing.com

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

At the close in Sydney, it was down 0.30%.

The best performers of the session were Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: ), which rose 16.47% or 4.99 points to trade at 35.28 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: ) added 13.77% or 0.32 points to end at 2.68 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: ) was up 11.82% or 0.07 points to trade at 0.62 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nextdc Ltd (ASX: ), which fell 5.55% or 0.99 points to 16.85 at the close. Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ) declined 4.15% or 0.09 points to end at 2.08 and Appen Ltd (ASX: ) declined 4.10% or 0.06 points to end at 1.29.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 561 to 525, with 395 ending unchanged.

Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; up 11.82% or 0.07 to 0.62.

which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, rose 1.89% to 12.53.

Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.42 percent, or 10.75, to $2,553.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodity trading, crude for October delivery rose 1.11%, or 0.73, to $66.48 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.08% or 0.75 to $69.94 per barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.63% to 94.17.

US dollar index futures fell 0.23% to 101.37.