Investing.com – 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 lost 0.14% to hit a new 1-month low.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH ), which rose 31.93% or 0.27 points to trade at 1.10 at the close. Meanwhile, EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML ) added 13.95% or 0.12 points to end at 0.98 and Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP ) was up 13.36% or 0.60 points to 5.09 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX: APX ), which fell 33.33% or 0.96 points to trade at 1.92 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM ) declined 20.00% or 0.15 points to end at 0.60 and Flight Centre Ltd (ASX: FLT ) was down 10.16% or 1.80 points to 15.92.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 715 to 399 and 398 ended unchanged.

Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH ) rose to 52-week highs; rising 31.93% or 0.27 to 1.10. Shares in Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM ) fell to all time lows; losing 20.00% or 0.15 to 0.60.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.54% to 12.06.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.43% or 12.69 to $2,931.49 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.26% or 0.18 to hit $69.11 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.17 to trade at $72.67 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.32% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 94.57.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 106.45.