Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Energy and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M), which rose 6.46% or 0.450 points to trade at 7.420 at the close. Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) added 6.17% or 9.25 points to end at 159.11 and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC) was up 3.29% or 0.05 points to 1.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 4.26% or 0.100 points to trade at 2.250 in late trade. Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) declined 4.10% or 0.220 points to end at 5.140 and Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN) shed 3.72% or 0.100 points to 2.590.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 678 to 597 and 383 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 up 4.01% to 11.563 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.51% or 6.80 to $1341.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.34% or 0.22 to hit $64.52 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.37% or 0.26 to trade at $70.00 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7966, while AUD/JPY rose 0.33% to 88.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 90.25.