Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB), which rose 5.96% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.310 at the close. Meanwhile, Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) added 5.40% or 0.105 points to end at 2.050 and M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) was up 4.72% or 0.050 points to 1.110 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ozforex Grp (AX:OFX), which fell 5.67% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.660 at the close. Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH) declined 5.42% or 0.045 points to end at 0.785 and Pacific Brands Ltd (AX:PBG) was down 3.50% or 0.025 points to 0.690.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 514 to 462 and 141 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.56% to 19.394.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.21% or 2.30 to $1090.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.11% or 0.49 to hit $43.72 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.16% or 0.07 to trade at $47.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.44% to 0.7061, while AUD/JPY rose 0.32% to 86.85.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 99.10.