Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.37%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.37% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX: LYC ), which rose 14.43% or 0.285 points to trade at 2.260 at the close. Adelaide Brighton Ltd (AX: ABC ) added 5.33% or 0.200 points to end at 3.950 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX: IPL ) was up 4.94% or 0.160 points to 3.400 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Technology One Ltd (AX: TNE ), which lost 13.48% or 1.220 points to trade at 7.830 in late trade. Computershare Ltd. (AX: CPU ) declined 8.50% or 1.530 points to end at 16.470 and ALS Ltd (AX: ALQ ) shed 6.34% or 0.510 points to 7.540.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 634 to 533 and 378 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 up 0.70% to 13.950.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.26% or 3.35 to $1273.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.52% or 0.33 to hit $63.54 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.31% or 0.22 to trade at $72.19 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.46% to 0.6875, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 75.78.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 97.935.