Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Energy, Utilities and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.51%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM), which rose 13.68% or 2.05 points to trade at 17.04 at the close. Meanwhile, Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) added 6.16% or 0.580 points to end at 10.000 and Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK) was up 6.08% or 1.69 points to 29.47 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which fell 10.46% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.455 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) declined 5.34% or 2.73 points to end at 48.44 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was down 5.10% or 1.160 points to 21.590.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 948 to 452 and 397 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.26% to 17.512.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.44% or 8.15 to $1877.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.96% or 0.92 to hit $94.54 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.91% or 0.88 to trade at $95.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7115, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 82.07.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 96.200.