Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.96%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.96% to hit a new 3-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX: IGO ), which rose 9.06% or 0.280 points to trade at 3.370 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ) added 8.30% or 0.200 points to end at 2.610 and Worleyparsons Ltd (AX: WOR ) was up 7.00% or 0.410 points to 6.270 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX: LNG ), which lost 9.52% or 0.060 points to trade at 0.570 in late trade. APN Outdoor Group Ltd (AX: APO ) declined 5.47% or 0.380 points to end at 6.570 and Qantas Airways Ltd (AX: QAN ) shed 4.97% or 0.180 points to 3.440.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 579 to 481 and 313 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 6.59% to 15.834.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.02% or 0.20 to $1234.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.27% or 0.11 to hit $41.30 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.12 to trade at $43.03 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.50% to 0.7788, while AUD/JPY rose 0.70% to 84.91.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 94.37.