Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the A-REITs, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.06%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 5.74% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.290 at the close. Meanwhile, Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) added 4.71% or 0.080 points to end at 1.780 and Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) was up 3.43% or 0.150 points to 4.520 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM), which fell 3.99% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.370 at the close. Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) declined 3.38% or 0.100 points to end at 2.860 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was down 2.95% or 0.080 points to 2.630.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 568 to 488 and 383 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.23% to 11.899.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.04% or 0.53 to $1261.57 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.72% or 0.36 to hit $49.30 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.63% or 0.33 to trade at $51.91 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.21% to 0.7450, while AUD/JPY fell 0.18% to 82.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 97.38.