Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Energy and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.86%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which rose 7.46% or 0.44 points to trade at 6.34 at the close. Meanwhile, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 5.08% or 0.21 points to end at 4.34 and CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) was up 4.91% or 13.45 points to 287.21 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which fell 9.06% or 0.250 points to trade at 2.510 at the close. Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL) declined 2.92% or 0.640 points to end at 21.270 and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) was down 2.89% or 0.130 points to 4.370.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 726 to 676 and 384 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.99% to 11.519.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.16% or 2.80 to $1791.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.12% or 0.77 to hit $69.38 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.78% or 0.56 to trade at $72.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7114, while AUD/JPY rose 0.19% to 80.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 96.425.