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

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

At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.95%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which rose 2.61% or 0.130 points to trade at 5.120 at the close. Meanwhile, Paladin Energy Ltd (AX:PDN) added 2.27% or 0.005 points to end at 0.220 and Mirvac Group (AX:MGR) was up 2.12% or 0.040 points to 1.930 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB), which fell 8.14% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.580 at the close. Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV) declined 7.15% or 0.740 points to end at 9.610 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was down 6.98% or 0.150 points to 2.000.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 605 to 371 and 140 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.14% or 0.140 to 1.580. Shares in Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) fell to 52-week lows; falling 6.98% or 0.150 to 2.000.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.23% to 17.618.

Gold for December delivery was up 0.39% or 4.20 to $1071.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.78% or 0.33 to hit $42.08 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.22% or 0.10 to trade at $45.07 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.23% to 0.7208, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 88.46.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 99.79.

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