Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.19%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.19%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX: FMG ), which rose 6.43% or 0.460 points to trade at 7.610 at the close. Wisetech Global Ltd (AX: WTC ) added 4.86% or 1.070 points to end at 23.070 and Independence Group NL (AX: IGO ) was up 4.56% or 0.200 points to 4.590 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Graincorp Ltd (AX: GNC ), which lost 6.96% or 0.610 points to trade at 8.150 in late trade. NRW Holdings Ltd (AX: NWH ) declined 5.20% or 0.140 points to end at 2.550 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX: MYX ) shed 3.55% or 0.025 points to 0.680.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 578 to 550 and 407 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 6.79% to 13.145.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.15% or 1.95 to $1281.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.19% or 0.12 to hit $62.37 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.07 to trade at $71.17 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.62% to 0.7032, while AUD/JPY rose 0.58% to 77.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 97.213.