Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Gold, Real Estate Investment and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.65%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which rose 9.21% or 0.175 points to trade at 2.075 at the close. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) added 4.95% or 0.083 points to end at 1.748 and Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) was up 4.76% or 0.090 points to 1.980 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 3.02% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.125 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 2.89% or 0.035 points to end at 1.175 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) shed 2.69% or 0.580 points to 20.990.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 614 to 570 and 404 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 3.71% to 12.524.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.07% or 0.91 to $1247.61 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.05% or 0.02 to hit $44.45 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.04 to trade at $46.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7608, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 84.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 97.18.