Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.68%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.68%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 5.56% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.57 at the close. Meanwhile, Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) added 3.42% or 1.46 points to end at 44.13 and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) was up 2.66% or 0.11 points to 4.25 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL), which fell 7.84% or 0.32 points to trade at 3.76 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) declined 7.53% or 3.53 points to end at 43.38 and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) was down 7.14% or 0.71 points to 9.24.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 686 to 573 and 391 ended unchanged.

Shares in Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) fell to 52-week lows; down 7.84% or 0.32 to 3.76.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.24% to 17.87.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.24% or 4.15 to $1,701.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.05% or 0.05 to hit $95.83 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.49% or 0.49 to trade at $99.59 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.19% to 93.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 108.36.