Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SIP), which rose 7.87% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.960 at the close. Meanwhile, Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN) added 6.07% or 0.270 points to end at 4.720 and Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP) was up 5.47% or 0.170 points to 3.280 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which fell 9.06% or 0.290 points to trade at 2.910 at the close. Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) declined 7.58% or 0.270 points to end at 3.290 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was down 5.58% or 0.120 points to 2.030.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 488 to 488 and 165 ended unchanged.
Shares in Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) fell to 52-week lows; losing 7.58% or 0.270 to 3.290.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.04% to 15.110.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.17% or 1.90 to $1087.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.97% or 0.44 to hit $45.61 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.61% or 0.30 to trade at $49.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 1.26% to 0.7376, while AUD/JPY rose 1.22% to 91.46.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 97.53.