Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Energy, Health Care and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.04%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which rose 6.56% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.950 at the close. Meanwhile, Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) added 5.56% or 0.010 points to end at 0.190 and Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO) was up 3.33% or 0.005 points to 0.155 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX:HZN), which fell 6.06% or 0.010 points to trade at 0.155 at the close. Cabcharge Australia Ltd (ASX:CAB) declined 4.36% or 0.210 points to end at 4.610 and NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) was down 4.05% or 0.015 points to 0.355.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 347 to 170 and 39 ended unchanged.
Shares in NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) fell to 52 week lows; falling 4.05% or 0.015 to 0.355.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.64% to 14.526.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.55% or 6.50 to $1188.40 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.61% or 0.33 to hit $53.28 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 0.58% or 0.34 to trade at $57.62 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.02% to 0.8132, while AUD/JPY fell 0.19% to 97.89.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 90.61.