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, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.49%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Invocare Ltd (ASX:IVC), which rose 34.97% or 3.13 points to trade at 12.08 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 7.69% or 0.18 points to end at 2.52 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) was up 3.52% or 0.55 points to 16.16 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), which fell 14.98% or 0.86 points to trade at 4.88 at the close. Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) declined 5.48% or 0.16 points to end at 2.76 and ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) was down 3.68% or 0.47 points to 12.30.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 633 to 581 and 400 ended unchanged.

Shares in Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) fell to 52-week lows; losing 5.48% or 0.16 to 2.76.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.28% to 11.54 a new 6-months low.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.55 to $1,855.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.16% or 0.13 to hit $80.59 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.16 to trade at $86.34 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.32% to 91.14.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 104.14.