Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.52%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.52%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX: REG ), which rose 14.39% or 0.580 points to trade at 4.610 at the close. Japara Fpo (AX: JHC ) added 10.89% or 0.215 points to end at 2.190 and Estia Health Ltd (AX: EHE ) was up 10.28% or 0.260 points to 2.790 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Regis Resources Ltd (AX: RRL ), which lost 5.00% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.660 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ) declined 2.66% or 0.085 points to end at 3.115 and Orocobre Ltd (AX: ORE ) shed 2.60% or 0.110 points to 4.120.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 598 to 467 and 299 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 7.23% to 12.390.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.18% or 2.15 to $1174.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.98% or 0.51 to hit $51.28 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.78% or 0.43 to trade at $54.51 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.13% to 0.7462, while AUD/JPY fell 0.22% to 84.88.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 100.19.