Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.36%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining , Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.36%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX: GXY ), which rose 3.56% or 0.110 points to trade at 3.200 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX: A2M ) added 2.67% or 0.340 points to end at 13.060 and GWA Group Ltd (AX: GWA ) was up 2.55% or 0.080 points to 3.220 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX: AAC ), which lost 4.15% or 0.050 points to trade at 1.155 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX: RSG ) declined 3.67% or 0.045 points to end at 1.180 and APN Outdoor Group Ltd (AX: APO ) shed 3.50% or 0.150 points to 4.140.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 764 to 472 and 337 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 3.87% to 12.772 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to $1320.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.15% or 0.09 to hit $61.27 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.06 to trade at $64.89 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.01% to 0.7874, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 84.03.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 89.98.