Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.80%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which rose 2.33% or 0.050 points to trade at 2.200 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 2.21% or 0.030 points to end at 1.385 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 1.99% or 0.055 points to 2.825 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA), which fell 6.97% or 0.200 points to trade at 2.670 at the close. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) declined 5.59% or 0.048 points to end at 0.802 and Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) was down 4.86% or 0.170 points to 3.330.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 600 to 418 and 340 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.41% to 13.055 a new 1-month high.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.05% or 0.55 to $1185.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.19% or 0.10 to hit $52.06 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.11 to trade at $55.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% to 0.7373, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 85.14.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 101.63.