Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Financials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.50% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH), which rose 8.27% or 0.31 points to trade at 4.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 7.52% or 0.12 points to end at 1.65 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was up 7.30% or 0.39 points to 5.73 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which fell 11.25% or 0.22 points to trade at 1.77 at the close. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) declined 7.88% or 2.03 points to end at 23.73 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) was down 5.96% or 0.07 points to 1.11.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 862 to 572 and 393 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) fell to 52-week lows; losing 7.88% or 2.03 to 23.73.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.85% to 14.61 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.06% or 1.15 to $1,920.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.74% or 0.81 to hit $110.08 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.88% or 1.02 to trade at $116.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.75, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 90.31.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 98.54.