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

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the A-REITs, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.

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

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (ASX:VGN), which rose 8.06% or 0.20 points to trade at 2.68 at the close. Meanwhile, Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) added 7.35% or 1.34 points to end at 19.57 and Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) was up 6.70% or 0.59 points to 9.39 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP), which fell 9.15% or 0.22 points to trade at 2.14 at the close. Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) declined 6.40% or 0.19 points to end at 2.71 and Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX:YAL) was down 5.93% or 0.36 points to 5.71.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 505 to 484 and 321 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.29% to 11.20.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.98% or 38.85 to $3,930.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.47% or 0.45 to hit $96.91 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.35 to trade at $105.12 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.31% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY fell 0.33% to 110.17.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 101.61.