Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were CSL Ltd (AX:CSL), which rose 3.29% or 3.030 points to trade at 95.130 at the close. Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL) added 3.24% or 0.220 points to end at 7.000 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 3.22% or 0.140 points to 4.490 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which lost 6.12% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.460 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 5.51% or 0.065 points to end at 1.115 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) shed 5.41% or 0.370 points to 6.470.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 601 to 470 and 310 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 4.43% to 12.240.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.18% or 2.05 to $1163.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.28% or 0.15 to hit $52.68 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.06 to trade at $55.63 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7488, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 86.22.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 101.03.