Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Staples and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.26%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD), which rose 6.43% or 0.100 points to trade at 1.655 at the close. Meanwhile, Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) added 5.04% or 0.200 points to end at 4.170 and Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) was up 3.87% or 0.060 points to 1.610 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which fell 6.32% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.445 at the close. Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) declined 6.19% or 0.200 points to end at 3.030 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) was down 6.00% or 0.180 points to 2.820.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 608 to 473 and 345 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.02% to 11.373.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.04% or 0.50 to $1225.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $53.19 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.05 to trade at $55.96 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.49% to 0.7617, while AUD/JPY rose 0.52% to 86.78.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 101.66.