Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.50% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 2.88% or 0.030 points to trade at 1.070 at the close. Meanwhile, Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX:SPK) added 2.30% or 0.075 points to end at 3.335 and Macquarie Group Ltd (AX:MQG) was up 1.49% or 0.995 points to 67.995 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which fell 7.93% or 0.260 points to trade at 3.020 at the close. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 6.38% or 0.095 points to end at 1.395 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) was down 4.95% or 0.150 points to 2.880.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 653 to 390 and 379 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.97% to 22.156.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.30% or 3.95 to $1320.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.64% or 0.76 to hit $47.09 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.70 to trade at $48.47 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.96% to 0.7399, while AUD/JPY rose 0.94% to 75.43.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.34% at 96.22.