CANBERRA: Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, A-REITs and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.07%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Spotless Fp (AX:SPO), which rose 48.97% or 0.355 points to trade at 1.080 at the close. Meanwhile, Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) added 15.71% or 0.600 points to end at 4.420 and Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) was up 12.94% or 13.00 points to 113.50 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which fell 3.44% or 0.130 points to trade at 3.650 at the close. Virtus Health Ltd (AX:VRT) declined 3.16% or 0.180 points to end at 5.510 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was down 2.88% or 0.080 points to 2.700.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 545 to 520 and 347 ended unchanged. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.55% to 10.218. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.52% or 6.45 to $1227.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.37% or 0.18 to hit $49.09 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.46% or 0.24 to trade at $51.86 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.38% to 0.7702, while AUD/JPY fell 0.18% to 86.87. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 100.12.
