Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Gold, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orora Ltd (ASX:ORA), which rose 19.69% or 0.38 points to trade at 2.28 at the close. Meanwhile, Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) added 10.11% or 0.98 points to end at 10.67 and Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) was up 6.69% or 0.46 points to 7.34 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK), which fell 7.37% or 1.63 points to trade at 20.50 at the close. Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) declined 5.47% or 1.20 points to end at 20.72 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) was down 5.37% or 0.16 points to 2.82.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 557 to 519 and 446 ended unchanged.
Shares in Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 6.69% or 0.46 to 7.34.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.06% to 13.42.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.06% or 1.45 to $2,502.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.60% or 0.48 to hit $79.58 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.69% or 0.57 to trade at $81.73 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.08% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.52% to 97.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 102.97.