Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.50% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 2.88% or 0.030 points to trade at 1.070 at the close. Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX:SPK) added 2.30% or 0.075 points to end at 3.335 and Macquarie Group Ltd (AX:MQG) was up 1.49% or 0.995 points to 67.995 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 7.93% or 0.260 points to trade at 3.020 in late trade. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 6.38% or 0.095 points to end at 1.395 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) shed 4.95% or 0.150 points to 2.880.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 652 to 391 and 379 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.96% to 22.158.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.30% or 3.95 to $1320.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.64% or 0.76 to hit $47.09 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.70 to trade at $48.47 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.96% to 0.7399, while AUD/JPY rose 0.92% to 75.42.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 96.21.