Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Energy and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.48%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV), which rose 6.12% or 0.410 points to trade at 7.110 at the close. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) added 3.48% or 0.020 points to end at 0.595 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 3.11% or 0.250 points to 8.300 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL), which lost 6.33% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.070 in late trade. Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG) declined 3.09% or 0.060 points to end at 1.880 and Woodside Petroleum Ltd (AX:WPL) shed 2.46% or 0.690 points to 27.380.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 507 to 495 and 333 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.84% to 16.400.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.14% or 1.70 to $1215.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.65% or 0.32 to hit $49.65 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.07 to trade at $50.29 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.79% to 0.7240, while AUD/JPY rose 0.94% to 80.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 95.71.