Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.36%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the IT, Financials and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.36%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN), which rose 8.89% or 3.04 points to trade at 37.23 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 6.98% or 0.15 points to end at 2.30 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was up 6.23% or 1.20 points to 20.45 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT), which fell 8.63% or 1.89 points to trade at 20.02 at the close. Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) declined 8.96% or 24.04 points to end at 244.33 and Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) was down 6.25% or 0.40 points to 6.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 625 to 435 and 400 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.13% to 10.34.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.24% or 6.34 to $2,692.14 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.64% or 0.44 to hit $67.93 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.54% or 0.39 to trade at $71.75 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.69% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY fell 0.73% to 96.66.

The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 105.82.