Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.64%

Stock market

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.64%.

The best performers 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. Meanwhile, 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.

The worst performers of the session were Monadelphous Group Ltd (AX:MND), which fell 17.20% or 1.880 points to trade at 9.050 at the close. Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) declined 5.65% or 0.520 points to end at 8.680 and Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) was down 4.71% or 0.210 points to 4.250.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 549 to 542 and 337 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.20% to 12.724.

Gold for December delivery was down 0.07% or 0.95 to $1342.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.05% or 0.50 to hit $46.91 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 0.10% to 76.53.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 94.36.

Source by Investing.com