Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Materials and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.23%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which rose 5.43% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.17 at the close. Meanwhile, Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX:DRR) added 5.31% or 0.24 points to end at 4.76 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) was up 5.00% or 0.06 points to 1.26 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), which fell 5.94% or 0.25 points to trade at 3.96 at the close. Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) declined 4.18% or 0.08 points to end at 1.72 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 4.14% or 0.28 points to 6.49.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 609 to 606 and 395 ended unchanged.
Shares in Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) fell to 3-years lows; down 5.94% or 0.25 to 3.96.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.97% to 13.87.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.43% or 8.50 to $1,981.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.83% or 0.61 to hit $73.81 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.50% or 0.39 to trade at $78.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.50% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 88.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 102.27.