Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, A-REITs and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.36%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M), which rose 6.48% or 0.610 points to trade at 10.030 at the close. Meanwhile, Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) added 4.66% or 0.680 points to end at 15.280 and Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) was up 3.03% or 0.660 points to 22.420 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which fell 4.96% or 0.275 points to trade at 5.265 at the close. Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL) declined 4.31% or 0.055 points to end at 1.220 and Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (AX:SOL) was down 3.42% or 0.690 points to 19.480.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 705 to 538 and 391 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 60.29% to 11.852.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.17% or 2.20 to $1295.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.37% or 0.24 to hit $64.99 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.12 to trade at $75.41 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.21% to 0.7632, while AUD/JPY fell 0.14% to 83.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 94.07.