Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.44% 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 0.44% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the were Codan Ltd (ASX:), which rose 17.87% or 0.79 points to trade at 5.21 at the close. Meanwhile, Breville Group Ltd (ASX:) added 7.54% or 1.57 points to end at 22.39 and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:) was up 5.28% or 4.83 points to 96.28 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:), which fell 15.57% or 0.13 points to trade at 0.70 at the close. Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:) declined 2.70% or 0.04 points to end at 1.26 and Cochlear Ltd (ASX:) was down 2.53% or 5.29 points to 203.41.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 724 to 597 and 387 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:) rose to all time highs; up 5.28% or 4.83 to 96.28.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.35% to 12.10.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.67% or 13.00 to $1,941.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.10% or 0.08 to hit $81.54 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.29% or 0.26 to trade at $87.93 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY fell 0.42% to 91.43.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 101.51.