Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Energy, Gold and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 2.49% to hit a new 6-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA), which rose 16.85% or 1.41 points to trade at 9.78 at the close. Meanwhile, A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) added 7.07% or 0.36 points to end at 5.45 and AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) was up 1.15% or 0.14 points to 12.33 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN), which fell 10.65% or 0.090 points to trade at 0.755 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) declined 8.27% or 0.47 points to end at 5.21 and Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) was down 7.97% or 0.145 points to 1.675.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1441 to 207 and 246 ended unchanged.
Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) fell to 52-week lows; falling 8.27% or 0.47 to 5.21.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.33% to 18.535 a new 52-week high.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.02% or 0.35 to $1842.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.46% or 0.38 to hit $83.69 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.48 to trade at $85.91 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.01% to 0.7141, while AUD/JPY fell 0.09% to 81.26.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 95.970.