On Wednesday, Australian stocks closed lower as shares were pulled down by losses in the Financials, Gold, and Telecoms Services sectors. At the end of the trading day in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined by 0.12%. Among the top performers of the day were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which gained 4.81% or 0.05 points to trade at 1.09, followed by Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) which added 3.56% or 0.09 points to end at 2.62, and Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) which rose 3.50% or 0.45 points to 13.30 in late trade. The worst performers of the day were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which dropped 28.21% or 0.90 points to trade at 2.29 at the close, Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) which declined 4.69% or 0.21 points to end at 4.27, and Bank of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ) which was down 4.23% or 0.25 points to 5.66.
The Sydney Stock Exchange saw more falling stocks than advancing ones with a ratio of 652 to 621, while 396 ended unchanged. Bank of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ) shares hit 52-week lows and closed down 4.23% or 0.25 to 5.66. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, increased by 0.68% to 12.64.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery decreased by 0.28% or 5.75 to $2,037.15 per troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.92% or 0.68 to hit $73.03 a barrel, and the July Brent oil contract declined by 0.93% or 0.72 to trade at $76.72 a barrel. AUD/USD remained unchanged at 0.68%, while AUD/JPY rose by 0.22% to 91.61. The US Dollar Index Futures fell by 0.04% to 101.36.