Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, Gold and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 9.59% or 1.180 points to trade at 13.480 at the close. IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) added 5.95% or 0.275 points to end at 4.895 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) was up 5.32% or 0.025 points to 0.495 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pendal Group Ltd (AX:PDL), which lost 6.20% or 0.640 points to trade at 9.690 in late trade. Nextdc Ltd (AX:NXT) declined 3.67% or 0.270 points to end at 7.090 and Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) shed 3.05% or 0.080 points to 2.540.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 656 to 560 and 337 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 0.83% to 12.474.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.11% or 1.40 to $1258.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.57% or 0.42 to hit $74.27 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.43 to trade at $78.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.13% to 0.7457, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 82.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 93.91.