Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, IT and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 7.36% or 0.085 points to trade at 1.240 at the close. Brambles Ltd (AX:BXB) added 1.77% or 0.170 points to end at 9.750 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 1.70% or 0.045 points to 2.685 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL), which lost 3.77% or 0.048 points to trade at 1.212 in late trade. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) declined 3.52% or 0.065 points to end at 1.780 and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) shed 3.51% or 0.048 points to 1.308.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 718 to 398 and 353 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 1.14% to 13.354.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.29% or 3.58 to $1237.28 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.15% or 0.07 to hit $45.95 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.12% or 0.06 to trade at $48.36 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 1.31% to 0.7904, while AUD/JPY rose 0.89% to 88.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.36% at 94.58.