Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.11%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.11%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX: BAL ), which rose 7.39% or 0.340 points to trade at 4.940 at the close. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX: SAR ) added 6.75% or 0.080 points to end at 1.265 and Transurban Group (AX: TCL ) was up 6.07% or 0.630 points to 11.010 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (AX: TAH ), which lost 4.28% or 0.190 points to trade at 4.250 in late trade. Orocobre Ltd (AX: ORE ) declined 3.21% or 0.130 points to end at 3.920 and Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ) shed 2.80% or 0.105 points to 3.645.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 590 to 506 and 331 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 0.53% to 12.863.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.24% or 2.95 to $1235.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.21% or 0.11 to hit $53.12 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.13 to trade at $55.85 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7670, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 85.80.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.28% at 100.12.