Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 5.21% or 0.740 points to trade at 14.930 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 4.28% or 0.080 points to end at 1.950 and IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) was up 3.96% or 0.220 points to 5.770 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Monadelphous Group Ltd (AX:MND), which lost 17.20% or 1.880 points to trade at 9.050 in late trade. Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) declined 5.65% or 0.520 points to end at 8.680 and Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) shed 4.71% or 0.210 points to 4.250.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 549 to 541 and 338 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 2.20% to 12.724.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.07% or 0.95 to $1342.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.10% or 0.52 to hit $46.89 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.85% or 0.42 to trade at $48.74 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7642, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 76.52.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 94.36.