Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, Gold and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.40%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 9.59% or 1.180 points to trade at 13.480 at the close. Meanwhile, IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) added 6.06% or 0.280 points to end at 4.900 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) was up 5.32% or 0.025 points to 0.495 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pendal Group Ltd (AX:PDL), which fell 6.20% or 0.640 points to trade at 9.690 at the close. Nextdc Ltd (AX:NXT) declined 3.53% or 0.260 points to end at 7.100 and Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) was down 3.05% or 0.080 points to 2.540.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 659 to 563 and 332 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.82% to 12.476.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.11% or 1.40 to $1258.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.57% or 0.42 to hit $74.27 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.43 to trade at $78.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.15% to 0.7456, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 82.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 93.91.