Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.95%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.95%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 11.73% or 0.23 points to trade at 2.19 at the close. Meanwhile, Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) added 4.50% or 9.05 points to end at 210.05 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was up 3.78% or 0.53 points to 14.55 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which fell 4.86% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.34 at the close. Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) declined 4.46% or 0.02 points to end at 0.48 and Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) was down 4.18% or 0.31 points to 7.11.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 642 to 469 and 439 ended unchanged.

Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) rose to 52-week highs; up 11.73% or 0.23 to 2.19.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.56% to 12.24.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.25% or 6.65 to $2,666.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.09% or 0.06 to hit $68.23 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $71.75 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY rose 0.71% to 100.02.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 100.55.