Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.93%

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Staples and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.93%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which rose 28.11% or 0.260 points to trade at 1.185 at the close. Meanwhile, Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH) added 25.00% or 0.070 points to end at 0.350 and Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) was up 13.51% or 0.200 points to 1.680 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIP), which fell 2.87% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.845 at the close. Transpacific Industries Group Ltd (AX:TPI) declined 2.29% or 0.015 points to end at 0.640 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) was down 1.86% or 0.360 points to 18.950.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 562 to 448 and 151 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.82% to 16.825 a new 3-months low.

Gold for February delivery was up 0.60% or 6.40 to $1071.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.73% or 0.30 to hit $41.95 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.27 to trade at $44.81 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.50% to 0.7262, while AUD/JPY rose 0.35% to 89.27.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.18% at 100.09.

Share on Google Plus

About Jessica Hornberger

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.