Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.05%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare , Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.05%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX: PTM ), which rose 8.75% or 0.490 points to trade at 6.090 at the close. IPH Ltd (AX: IPH ) added 6.87% or 0.265 points to end at 4.125 and G8 Education Ltd (AX: GEM ) was up 4.85% or 0.115 points to 2.485 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ), which lost 6.25% or 0.210 points to trade at 3.150 in late trade. Aurizon Holdings Ltd (AX: AZJ ) declined 3.71% or 0.170 points to end at 4.410 and GWA Group Ltd (AX: GWA ) shed 3.70% or 0.140 points to 3.640.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 647 to 597 and 401 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.15% to 11.622.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.08% or 1.00 to $1313.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.92% or 0.65 to hit $70.08 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.75% or 0.57 to trade at $75.60 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.7510, while AUD/JPY fell 0.17% to 81.88.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 92.63.