Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.12%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA), which rose 5.34% or 0.11 points to trade at 2.17 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) added 2.44% or 0.14 points to end at 5.87 and Ampol Ltd (ASX:ALD) was up 2.72% or 0.70 points to 26.46 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 7.55% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.29 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) declined 4.60% or 1.09 points to end at 22.59 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was down 3.99% or 0.11 points to 2.65.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 615 to 492 and 476 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.61% to 11.66.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.18% or 6.10 to $3,400.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.71% or 0.52 to hit $72.75 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.68% or 0.52 to trade at $75.93 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.53% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 94.34.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 98.16.