Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, Energy and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.36% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 3.46% or 0.160 points to trade at 4.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 3.00% or 0.075 points to end at 2.575 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 2.79% or 0.080 points to 2.950 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which fell 7.12% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.480 at the close. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) declined 6.39% or 0.140 points to end at 2.050 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) was down 5.32% or 0.740 points to 13.180.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 749 to 334 and 349 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 11.36% to 13.522 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.53% or 6.86 to $1289.56 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.51% or 0.24 to hit $47.16 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.24 to trade at $49.23 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7492, while AUD/JPY fell 0.60% to 82.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 96.54.