Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.13% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Santos Ltd (AX:STO), which rose 16.57% or 0.840 points to trade at 5.910 at the close. Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) added 4.57% or 0.210 points to end at 4.810 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 4.31% or 0.135 points to 3.265 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT), which lost 3.28% or 0.330 points to trade at 9.720 in late trade. Nextdc Ltd (AX:NXT) declined 3.06% or 0.200 points to end at 6.340 and Magellan Financial Group Ltd (AX:MFG) shed 2.92% or 0.695 points to 23.145.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 790 to 449 and 364 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 down 0.98% to 16.445.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.26% or 3.50 to $1343.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.08% or 0.05 to hit $63.06 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.08 to trade at $67.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.30% to 0.7685, while AUD/JPY rose 0.38% to 81.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 89.66.