Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.46%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 59.30% or 0.26 points to trade at 0.69 at the close. Meanwhile, Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) added 13.55% or 2.06 points to end at 17.26 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) was up 3.87% or 0.04 points to 0.94 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG), which fell 9.98% or 2.03 points to trade at 18.32 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) declined 7.01% or 0.08 points to end at 1.00 and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) was down 4.41% or 0.25 points to 5.42.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 692 to 404 and 453 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell to 52-week lows; losing 9.98% or 2.03 to 18.32. Shares in IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) fell to 3-years lows; down 4.41% or 0.25 to 5.42.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.90% to 12.36.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.37% or 8.95 to $2,434.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.47% or 0.36 to hit $75.45 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.46% or 0.36 to trade at $78.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.15% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.69% to 101.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 104.42.