Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Discretionary and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.51% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC), which rose 5.85% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.720 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) added 5.49% or 0.070 points to end at 1.345 and Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) was up 4.40% or 0.35 points to 8.30 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M), which fell 4.83% or 0.71 points to trade at 13.98 at the close. Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) declined 4.17% or 0.015 points to end at 0.345 and OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:OZL) was down 3.64% or 0.56 points to 14.84.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 702 to 583 and 347 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.73% to 15.102.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 4.45 to $1880.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.10% or 0.04 to hit $41.47 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.18 to trade at $43.93 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7307, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 75.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 92.257.