CANBERRA: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Financials, IT and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.30% to hit a new 52-week high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR), which rose 12.26% or 0.320 points to trade at 2.930 at the close. Meanwhile, Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) added 11.04% or 0.180 points to end at 1.810 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 8.16% or 0.280 points to 3.710 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR), which fell 5.16% or 0.065 points to trade at 1.195 at the close. Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) declined 3.31% or 0.050 points to end at 1.460 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) was down 2.93% or 0.040 points to 1.325. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 615 to 454 and 343 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.98% to 12.271. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.19% or 2.35 to $1253.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.59% or 0.28 to hit $48.01 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.49% or 0.25 to trade at $51.15 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.7610, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 84.19. The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 99.03.