Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.53%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which rose 8.11% or 0.240 points to trade at 3.200 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 7.14% or 0.320 points to end at 4.800 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 6.80% or 0.200 points to 3.140 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX), which fell 16.54% or 0.440 points to trade at 2.220 at the close. Resmed Inc DRC (AX:RMD) declined 10.44% or 1.510 points to end at 12.960 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) was down 7.87% or 0.280 points to 3.280.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 689 to 453 and 336 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.03% to 13.424.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.00% or 0.05 to $1303.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.83% or 0.43 to hit $52.42 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.77% or 0.46 to trade at $60.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7164, while AUD/JPY fell 0.02% to 78.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 95.405.