Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.37%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities , Energy and IT sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.37% to hit a new 3-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX: RFG ), which rose 3.46% or 0.160 points to trade at 4.790 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX: WHC ) added 3.00% or 0.075 points to end at 2.575 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) was up 2.79% or 0.080 points to 2.950 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ), which lost 7.12% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.480 in late trade. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX: GXY ) declined 6.39% or 0.140 points to end at 2.050 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) shed 5.32% or 0.740 points to 13.180.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 751 to 335 and 346 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 11.36% to 13.522 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.54% or 6.95 to $1289.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.51% or 0.24 to hit $47.16 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.24 to trade at $49.23 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7493, while AUD/JPY fell 0.63% to 82.17.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 96.54.