Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.08%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Metals&Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.08%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 15.71% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.41 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 13.08% or 0.22 points to end at 1.95 and ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) was up 9.87% or 3.53 points to 39.30 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR), which fell 19.64% or 0.11 points to trade at 0.45 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) declined 9.65% or 1.40 points to end at 13.11 and Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) was down 7.57% or 2.40 points to 29.31.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 628 to 544 and 374 ended unchanged.

Shares in Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR) fell to all time lows; falling 19.64% or 0.11 to 0.45. Shares in ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) rose to 52-week highs; up 9.87% or 3.53 to 39.30.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.23% to 10.90.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.70 to $2,030.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.18% or 0.14 to hit $78.36 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.09 to trade at $83.47 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 98.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 104.29.