Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 6.19% or 0.065 points to trade at 1.115 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) added 5.20% or 0.045 points to end at 0.910 and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) was up 3.93% or 0.028 points to 0.728 in late trade.
Biggest losers included TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM), which lost 4.97% or 0.300 points to trade at 5.740 in late trade. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) declined 4.35% or 0.025 points to end at 0.550 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) shed 3.69% or 0.590 points to 15.420.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 722 to 495 and 328 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 3.67% to 12.643.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.22% or 2.90 to $1314.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.40% or 0.25 to hit $62.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.38% or 0.25 to trade at $66.30 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.21% to 0.7703, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 81.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 89.51.