Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.27%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.27%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX: RSG ), which rose 4.44% or 0.050 points to trade at 1.175 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ) added 4.21% or 0.090 points to end at 2.230 and G8 Education Ltd (AX: GEM ) was up 4.13% or 0.140 points to 3.530 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Isentia Group Ltd (AX: ISD ), which lost 2.60% or 0.045 points to trade at 1.685 in late trade. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) declined 2.38% or 0.325 points to end at 13.325 and Retail Food Group Ltd (AX: RFG ) shed 2.28% or 0.120 points to 5.150.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 597 to 453 and 384 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 3.16% to 12.765.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.03% or 0.44 to $1267.66 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $49.80 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.32% or 0.17 to trade at $52.47 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7438, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 82.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 97.66.