Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.05%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.05%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 12.73% or 0.07 points to trade at 0.62 at the close. Meanwhile, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) added 3.20% or 0.04 points to end at 1.13 and Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) was up 2.81% or 0.43 points to 15.75 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD), which fell 4.34% or 0.30 points to trade at 6.61 at the close. Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) declined 4.25% or 0.09 points to end at 1.92 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was down 3.31% or 0.02 points to 0.58.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 656 to 577 and 446 ended unchanged.

Shares in Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD) fell to 3-years lows; down 4.34% or 0.30 to 6.61. Shares in Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) rose to all time highs; up 2.81% or 0.43 to 15.75.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.33% to 12.19.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.92% or 18.10 to $1,959.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.15% or 0.11 to hit $71.94 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.17% or 0.13 to trade at $75.86 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.38% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.43% to 91.81.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 103.26.