Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.28%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Gold, Metals&Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.28%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 12.33% or 0.05 points to trade at 0.41 at the close. Meanwhile, Collins Foods Ltd (ASX:CKF) added 4.29% or 0.42 points to end at 10.22 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was up 3.66% or 0.42 points to 11.88 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK), which fell 4.41% or 0.05 points to trade at 1.08 at the close. Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) declined 3.62% or 0.03 points to end at 0.73 and Hub24 Ltd (ASX:HUB) was down 3.47% or 1.19 points to 33.12.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 605 to 602 and 377 ended unchanged.

Shares in Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) fell to all time lows; losing 4.41% or 0.05 to 1.08. Shares in Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) fell to 52-week lows; down 3.62% or 0.03 to 0.73.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.85% to 11.39.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.70% or 13.80 to $1,994.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.41% or 0.32 to hit $77.51 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.35 to trade at $81.97 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.37% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.27% to 97.03.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 103.12.