Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.49% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which rose 4.68% or 0.210 points to trade at 4.700 at the close. Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) added 3.45% or 0.020 points to end at 0.600 and Recall Hold (ASX:REC) was up 3.13% or 0.220 points to 7.240 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nine Ent Fpo (ASX:NEC), which lost 16.12% or 0.320 points to trade at 1.665 in late trade. Seven West Media Ltd (ASX:SWM) declined 11.39% or 0.135 points to end at 1.050 and Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) shed 4.37% or 0.160 points to 3.500.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 637 to 415 and 189 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 1.45% to 18.645.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.26% or 3.00 to $1176.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.39% or 0.23 to hit $58.37 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.42% or 0.27 to trade at $62.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.39% to 0.7674, while AUD/JPY fell 0.43% to 95.48.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 95.17.