Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Healthcare and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.17% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which rose 4.76% or 0.220 points to trade at 4.840 at the close. TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) added 3.24% or 0.170 points to end at 5.410 and Monadelphous Group Ltd (AX:MND) was up 2.54% or 0.420 points to 16.970 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (AX:BEN), which lost 4.77% or 0.570 points to trade at 11.380 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 3.79% or 0.110 points to end at 2.790 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) shed 3.76% or 0.680 points to 17.400.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 642 to 572 and 367 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 0.29% to 11.284.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.01% or 0.11 to $1277.59 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.30% or 0.16 to hit $53.99 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.15 to trade at $60.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7679, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 86.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 94.46.