Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.28%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Industrials, Utilities and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.28%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 9.52% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.26 at the close. Meanwhile, Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) added 3.21% or 0.03 points to end at 0.96 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was up 3.20% or 0.45 points to 14.52 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 4.62% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.24 at the close. Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) declined 4.10% or 0.07 points to end at 1.52 and AUB Group Ltd (ASX:AUB) was down 4.08% or 1.22 points to 28.67.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 711 to 457 and 454 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.60% to 11.18.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.37% or 8.80 to $2,343.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.27% or 0.21 to hit $78.76 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $82.91 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 104.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 104.38.