Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.29%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the IT, Gold and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.29%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), which rose 27.71% or 2.71 points to trade at 12.49 at the close. Meanwhile, Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) added 22.50% or 0.14 points to end at 0.74 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was up 9.32% or 0.13 points to 1.52 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL), which fell 5.02% or 0.87 points to trade at 16.47 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) declined 3.43% or 0.04 points to end at 1.13 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) was down 2.41% or 0.38 points to 15.39.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 653 to 562 and 359 ended unchanged.

Shares in Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 27.71% or 2.71 to 12.49.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.24% to 11.36.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.30% or 6.20 to $2,050.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.49% or 0.38 to hit $77.16 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.44% or 0.36 to trade at $82.19 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.09% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 97.47.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 103.29.