Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the IT, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 3.20% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL), which rose 0.25% or 0.010 points to trade at 4.020 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) unchanged 0.00% or 0.000 points to end at 1.050 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was unchanged 0.00% or 0.000 points to 5.790 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which lost 10.73% or 1.670 points to trade at 13.890 in late trade. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 8.77% or 0.175 points to end at 1.820 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) shed 8.46% or 0.115 points to 1.245.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1386 to 124 and 184 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 46.01% to 22.164 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.73% or 9.80 to $1346.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.09% or 0.70 to hit $63.45 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.08% or 0.73 to trade at $66.89 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.17% to 0.7864, while AUD/JPY fell 0.40% to 85.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 89.52.