Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 index falling by 0.03%. The decline was led by losses in the Consumer Staples, Industrials, and Utilities sectors.
Among the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which rose by 7.20% or 0.13 points to trade at 1.86 at the close. PointsBet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) added 6.18% or 0.06 points to end at 0.94, and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) gained 2.96% or 0.11 points to reach 3.83 in late trade.
On the downside, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was among the worst performers, falling by 4.40% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.30 at the close. Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABG) declined by 3.73% or 0.05 points to end at 1.16, and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was down 2.44% or 0.01 points to 0.20.
The ratio of falling stocks to rising ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange was 5 to 4, with 21 stocks remaining unchanged.
Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) reached 5-year lows, falling by 4.40% to 1.30.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down by 2.74% to 9.80.
Gold Futures for February delivery rose by 0.28% or 5.80 to $2,074.90 per troy ounce. In commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February increased by 0.37% or 0.27 to $73.83 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose by 0.41% or 0.32 to trade at $79.12 a barrel.
AUD/USD remained unchanged at 0.68, and AUD/JPY rose by 0.10% to 96.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures were down by 0.09% at 101.25.