Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 2.29%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL), which rose 9.57% or 0.550 points to trade at 6.300 at the close. Meanwhile, Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) added 7.38% or 0.360 points to end at 5.240 and Seven Group Holdings Ltd (AX:SVW) was up 7.29% or 0.350 points to 5.150 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB), which fell 2.86% or 0.060 points to trade at 2.040 at the close. ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) declined 2.64% or 0.130 points to end at 4.790 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (AX:QBE) was down 1.97% or 0.260 points to 12.910.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 565 to 373 and 123 ended unchanged.
Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) fell to 5-year lows; down 2.86% or 0.060 to 2.040.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.93% to 20.128.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.56% or 6.10 to $1077.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.11% or 0.04 to hit $41.70 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.10 to trade at $44.68 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.18% to 0.7084, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 87.43.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.17% at 99.64.