CANBERRA: Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities, IT and Industrials sectors led shares lower. At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.02%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 4.21% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.710 at the close. Meanwhile, Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) added 3.79% or 0.025 points to end at 0.685 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) was up 2.19% or 0.070 points to 3.260 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Spark Infrastructure Group (AX:SKI), which fell 4.46% or 0.120 points to trade at 2.570 at the close. Virtus Health Ltd (AX:VRT) declined 3.90% or 0.220 points to end at 5.420 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) was down 3.79% or 0.080 points to 2.030. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 663 to 512 and 351 ended unchanged. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.33% to 13.525. Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.81% or 10.82 to $1341.22 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.49% or 0.23 to hit $47.52 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.08 to trade at $52.26 a barrel. AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7959, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 87.03. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 92.49.
