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 gained 1.47%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG), which rose 10.64% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.520 at the close. Meanwhile, Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) added 10.11% or 0.570 points to end at 6.210 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 9.16% or 0.060 points to 0.715 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which fell 5.69% or 0.210 points to trade at 3.480 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 3.85% or 0.090 points to end at 2.250 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was down 2.90% or 0.050 points to 1.675.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 585 to 423 and 332 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.66% to 17.343.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.84% or 10.60 to $1250.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.38% or 0.58 to hit $41.59 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.16% or 0.07 to trade at $44.17 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 1.04% to 0.7674, while AUD/JPY rose 1.88% to 83.54.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.24% at 94.25.