Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.59%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.59%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Block Inc (ASX:XYZ), which rose 6.24% or 6.84 points to trade at 116.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) added 3.70% or 0.10 points to end at 2.80 and Nextdc Ltd (ASX:NXT) was up 3.67% or 0.23 points to 6.50 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO), which fell 7.44% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.21 at the close. Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI) declined 6.64% or 1.08 points to end at 15.12 and Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) was down 5.75% or 1.12 points to 18.37.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 743 to 342 and 374 ended unchanged.

Shares in DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) fell to 52-week lows; falling 7.44% or 0.10 to 1.21.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.88% to 11.30.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.77% or 30.42 to $3,970.82 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.20% or 0.19 to hit $96.28 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.38% or 0.39 to trade at $103.99 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 110.18.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.34% at 101.38.