Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.43% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV), which rose 6.75% or 0.340 points to trade at 5.380 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) added 5.72% or 0.190 points to end at 3.510 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) was up 5.41% or 0.040 points to 0.780 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX), which fell 6.30% or 1.230 points to trade at 18.300 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) declined 5.40% or 0.135 points to end at 2.365 and Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) was down 4.56% or 0.090 points to 1.885.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 570 to 449 and 373 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) rose to 52-week highs; rising 5.72% or 0.190 to 3.510.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.94% to 15.687.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.50% or 6.30 to $1248.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 2.40% or 1.02 to hit $41.45 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 2.43% or 1.07 to trade at $42.96 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.52% to 0.7772, while AUD/JPY fell 0.77% to 84.66.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 94.11.