Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL), which rose 7.19% or 0.105 points to trade at 1.565 at the close. Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) added 5.04% or 0.130 points to end at 2.710 and Rea Group Ltd (AX:REA) was up 4.51% or 3.280 points to 75.970 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which lost 9.67% or 0.380 points to trade at 3.550 in late trade. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) declined 3.60% or 0.090 points to end at 2.410 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 3.38% or 0.110 points to 3.140.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 581 to 529 and 374 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 3.61% to 12.831.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.04% or 0.55 to $1312.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.44% or 0.23 to hit $52.64 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.32 to trade at $61.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.23% to 0.7076, while AUD/JPY rose 0.44% to 78.24.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 96.857.