Australia stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and Utilities sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.28% to hit a new 6-months low.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA), which rose 2.06% or 0.16 points to trade at 7.93 at the close. Meanwhile, Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) added 1.60% or 0.07 points to end at 4.44 and Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) was up 1.20% or 0.03 points to 2.52 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which fell 8.14% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.58 at the close. Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) declined 7.69% or 0.10 points to end at 1.20 and Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) was down 5.74% or 0.10 points to 1.56.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 870 to 374 and 322 ended unchanged.

Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell to 5-year lows; falling 7.69% or 0.10 to 1.20.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 13.27% to 13.43 a new 6-months high.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.48% or 8.95 to $1,838.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.42% or 0.37 to hit $88.45 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.54% or 0.49 to trade at $90.22 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.63% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY fell 0.70% to 94.69.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 106.75.