Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.34%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.34%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC ), which rose 5.58% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.33 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX ) added 5.44% or 0.16 points to end at 3.10 and Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL ) was up 3.92% or 0.48 points to 12.74 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA ), which fell 6.55% or 0.38 points to trade at 5.42 at the close. Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN ) declined 3.82% or 0.06 points to end at 1.38 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG ) was down 4.43% or 0.80 points to 17.25.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 543 to 496 and 464 ended unchanged.

Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX ) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 5.44% or 0.16 to 3.10.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.47% to 10.75.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.26% or 6.94 to $2,654.34 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.08% or 0.06 to hit $73.50 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $76.33 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.34% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY rose 0.52% to 98.91.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 108.01.

Source: Investing.com