Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.31%

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 declined 0.31%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Rea Group Ltd (AX: REA ), which rose 3.71% or 1.860 points to trade at 52.010 at the close. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX: LNG ) added 3.45% or 0.020 points to end at 0.600 and Austal Ltd (AX: ASB ) was up 3.27% or 0.050 points to 1.580 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Broadspectrum Ltd (AX: BRS ), which lost 10.20% or 0.128 points to trade at 1.123 in late trade. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX: FMG ) declined 6.25% or 0.210 points to end at 3.150 and Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX: PRG ) shed 5.65% or 0.085 points to 1.420.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 569 to 465 and 343 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 8.41% to 17.922.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.16% or 1.95 to $1238.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.19% or 0.08 to hit $42.72 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.09 to trade at $44.41 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.06% to 0.7710, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 85.50.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 94.72.