Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.77%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE), which rose 6.06% or 0.020 points to trade at 0.350 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) added 3.17% or 0.035 points to end at 1.140 and Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC) was up 2.89% or 0.100 points to 3.560 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT), which fell 8.04% or 7.35 points to trade at 84.09 at the close. EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) declined 6.45% or 0.22 points to end at 3.19 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) was down 6.31% or 0.670 points to 9.940.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 867 to 450 and 323 ended unchanged.
Shares in Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC) rose to 52-week highs; rising 2.89% or 0.100 to 3.560.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 14.67% to 21.794 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.80% or 15.80 to $1994.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.15% or 0.49 to hit $43.10 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.21% or 0.55 to trade at $45.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.39% to 0.7403, while AUD/JPY rose 0.19% to 78.24.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.34% at 91.815.