Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Energy and Gold sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.77% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL), which rose 6.70% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.230 at the close. Meanwhile, Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN) added 2.27% or 0.005 points to end at 0.220 and Resmed Inc (ASX:RMD) was up 2.18% or 0.150 points to 7.040 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR), which fell 6.21% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.870 at the close. Drillsearch Energy Ltd (ASX:DLS) declined 5.60% or 0.065 points to end at 1.095 and Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) was down 5.26% or 0.010 points to 0.180.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 577 to 436 and 180 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.76% to 18.066.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.47% or 5.80 to $1221.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.22% or 0.13 to hit $60.11 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.40% or 0.27 to trade at $66.00 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7998, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 95.93.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 94.26.