Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.49%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Energy, Financials and Resources sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.49% to hit a new 52-week high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which rose 4.80% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.42 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) added 4.03% or 0.30 points to end at 7.74 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) was up 2.75% or 1.46 points to 54.49 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which fell 4.76% or 0.01 points to trade at 0.20 at the close. Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABG) declined 3.04% or 0.04 points to end at 1.11 and Bapcor Ltd (ASX:BAP) was down 2.89% or 0.16 points to 5.38.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 608 to 564 and 335 ended unchanged.

Shares in JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) rose to 52-week highs; up 2.75% or 1.46 to 54.49.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was unchanged 0.01% to 11.23 a new 1-month high.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.42% or 8.65 to $2,080.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.62% or 1.16 to hit $72.81 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.79% or 1.38 to trade at $78.42 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.25% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.63% to 96.59.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 101.19.