Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.07%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities , Metals & Mining and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.07%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX: LYC ), which rose 35.05% or 0.545 points to trade at 2.100 at the close. Challenger Ltd (AX: CGF ) added 9.48% or 0.690 points to end at 7.970 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) was up 6.02% or 0.200 points to 3.520 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ), which lost 12.31% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.570 in late trade. Estia Health Ltd (AX: EHE ) declined 4.04% or 0.110 points to end at 2.610 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX: ALG ) shed 4.03% or 0.050 points to 1.190.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 568 to 553 and 340 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 6.06% to 12.565.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.38% or 5.05 to $1323.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.71% or 0.42 to hit $59.24 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.16 to trade at $66.97 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.10% to 0.7118, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 78.40.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 96.093.