Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.31% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the added 0.31%.

The best performers of the session on the were Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:), which rose 6.86% or 0.62 points to trade at 9.66 at the close. Meanwhile, Megaport Ltd (ASX:) added 5.95% or 0.40 points to end at 7.12 and Challenger Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.64% or 0.34 points to 7.67 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:), which fell 10.49% or 0.08 points to trade at 0.64 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:) declined 7.14% or 0.02 points to end at 0.19 and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.56% or 0.33 points to 6.90.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 611 to 607 and 406 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.05% to 13.72.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.39% or 7.05 to $1,799.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.75% or 1.28 to hit $74.45 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.95% or 1.52 to trade at $79.51 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.52% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 93.12.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.30% at 104.45.