Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.07%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities , Real Estate Investment and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.07%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Crown Ltd (AX: CWN ), which rose 19.76% or 2.320 points to trade at 14.060 at the close. Star Entertainment Group Ltd (AX: SGR ) added 5.42% or 0.230 points to end at 4.470 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX: BPT ) was up 3.96% or 0.080 points to 2.100 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX: PLS ), which lost 5.10% or 0.038 points to trade at 0.698 in late trade. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) declined 3.55% or 0.405 points to end at 11.005 and Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX: DMP ) shed 3.45% or 1.540 points to 43.120.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 593 to 530 and 404 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 1.91% to 11.528.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.09% or 1.15 to $1303.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.11% or 0.07 to hit $64.47 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.06 to trade at $71.04 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7136, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 79.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 96.605.