Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.59%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.59% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA ), which rose 9.38% or 0.300 points to trade at 3.500 at the close. Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC ) added 8.88% or 0.340 points to end at 4.170 and Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC ) was up 6.45% or 0.240 points to 3.960 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR ), which lost 15.74% or 0.710 points to trade at 3.800 in late trade. AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL ) declined 7.22% or 1.510 points to end at 19.400 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL ) shed 4.57% or 0.210 points to 4.390.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 695 to 549 and 413 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 up 3.98% to 13.892.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.04% or 0.55 to $1329.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.96% or 0.51 to hit $53.77 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.35 to trade at $62.64 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.6956, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 75.55.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 96.743.