SYDNEY: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (ASX:MQA), which rose 5.41% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.310 at the close. Meanwhile, Village Roadshow Ltd (ASX:VRL) added 4.53% or 0.280 points to end at 6.460 and Flexigroup Ltd (ASX:FXL) was up 4.11% or 0.120 points to 3.040 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which fell 9.67% or 0.130 points to trade at 1.215 at the close. Cabcharge Australia Ltd (ASX:CAB) declined 6.94% or 0.250 points to end at 3.350 and Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) was down 6.14% or 0.035 points to 0.535.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 520 to 471 and 152 ended unchanged.
Shares in Cabcharge Australia Ltd (ASX:CAB) fell to 5-year lows; falling 6.94% or 0.250 to 3.350.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.66% to 13.735 a new 3-months low.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.30% or 3.30 to $1103.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.24% or 0.12 to hit $50.32 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $56.62 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.18% to 0.7358, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 91.53.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 98.17.
