Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.19%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which rose 1.50% or 0.060 points to trade at 4.070 at the close. Meanwhile, Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) added 1.29% or 0.015 points to end at 1.180 and Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) was up 0.93% or 0.005 points to 0.540 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Avita Medical (ASX:AVH), which fell 9.45% or 0.060 points to trade at 0.575 at the close. Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) declined 5.76% or 0.500 points to end at 8.180 and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) was down 5.73% or 1.580 points to 26.010.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 820 to 319 and 320 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 17.06% to 13.434 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.20% or 2.95 to $1466.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.41% or 0.23 to hit $56.19 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.17 to trade at $61.09 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.40% to 0.6845, while AUD/JPY rose 0.55% to 74.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 97.835.