Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.82%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Financials , Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.82% to hit a new 6-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Altium Ltd (AX: ALU ), which rose 11.76% or 1.000 points to trade at 9.500 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX: RSG ) added 7.58% or 0.080 points to end at 1.135 and Blackmores Ltd (AX: BKL ) was up 7.03% or 6.41 points to 97.58 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Chorus Ltd (AX: CNU ), which lost 6.68% or 0.265 points to trade at 3.705 in late trade. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX: AAC ) declined 4.91% or 0.080 points to end at 1.550 and Nanosonics Ltd (AX: NAN ) shed 4.69% or 0.120 points to 2.440.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 685 to 470 and 347 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 7.43% to 13.634.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.60% or 7.94 to $1323.24 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.49% or 0.23 to hit $46.80 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.35% or 0.18 to trade at $51.60 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.53% to 0.7926, while AUD/JPY fell 0.88% to 86.25.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 92.10.