At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index added 6.72 points, or 0.11%, to 6,057.74. The broader All Ordinaries climbed up 14.57 points, or 0.23%, to 6,261.79.
Shares of the gold companies surged as prices of the yellow metal benefited from uncertainties about U.S. elections and surging global COVID-19 cases. Gold explorer Ramelius Resources surged more than 7% as it reported a higher-than-expected gold production in the September quarter.
Tech stocks were also higher, with buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay jumping about 7% after its underlying sales in the first-quarter more than doubled.
The consumer sector also climbed, with the country's No. 2 supermarket chain Coles Group posting a rise in first-quarter sales.
Blackmores (BKL) was the most improved on the ASX 200 with the vitamin company surging 13.7%. It had announced yesterday that it was selling its Global Therapeutics business to McPherson's (MCP) for $27 million. MCP completed its institutional capital raise to fund the acquisition and fell 7.7%.
Afterpay (APT) was another standout with the BNPL provider lifting 7.3% on a quarterly update this morning. APT recorded underlying sales of $4.1 billion for the September quarter, which was more than double a year ago. Sales in Aus/NZ totalled $2.2 billion while US sales came in at $1.6 billion and saw the most impressive improvement of 229%. Active customers nearly doubled to 11.2 million while merchants rose 70% to 63,800.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar traded at $0.7139, following an earlier low of $0.7111.
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