Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Utilities and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.12%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 8.40% or 0.05 points to trade at 0.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) added 7.96% or 0.68 points to end at 9.22 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was up 6.25% or 0.07 points to 1.19 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 7.32% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.52 at the close. Iress Ltd (ASX:IRE) declined 6.78% or 0.61 points to end at 8.39 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) was down 4.20% or 0.12 points to 2.74.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 618 to 510 and 366 ended unchanged.
Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) rose to 52-week highs; rising 6.25% or 0.07 to 1.19.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.27% to 10.92.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.31% or 6.65 to $2,135.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.28% or 0.22 to hit $78.37 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.27% or 0.22 to trade at $82.26 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.22% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 97.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 103.73.