Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.54% 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 7.14% or 0.130 points to trade at 1.950 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) added 5.59% or 0.240 points to end at 4.530 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) was up 5.24% or 0.330 points to 6.630 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 25.28% or 0.670 points to trade at 1.980 in late trade. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) declined 6.37% or 0.240 points to end at 3.530 and Carsales.Com Ltd (AX:CAR) shed 3.10% or 0.470 points to 14.680.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 677 to 534 and 392 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 2.90% to 10.752.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.06% or 0.70 to $1266.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.30% or 0.17 to hit $57.39 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.12 to trade at $63.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.10% to 0.7670, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 86.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 93.22.