Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.69%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Oil Search Ltd (ASX:OSH), which rose 17.38% or 1.170 points to trade at 7.900 at the close. Meanwhile, AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) added 8.27% or 0.055 points to end at 0.720 and UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) was up 6.78% or 0.125 points to 1.970 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which fell 3.81% or 0.040 points to trade at 1.010 at the close. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) declined 3.01% or 0.920 points to end at 29.660 and Kathmandu Holdings Ltd (ASX:KMD) was down 2.41% or 0.035 points to 1.415.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 608 to 362 and 153 ended unchanged.
Shares in Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) fell to 3-years lows; falling 3.01% or 0.920 to 29.660.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.55% to 25.851.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.12% or 1.40 to $1120.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 3.04% or 1.40 to hit $44.65 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.19% or 0.56 to trade at $48.20 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.71% to 0.6973, while AUD/JPY rose 1.17% to 83.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 95.97.