Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the A-REITs, IT and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.83%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV), which rose 8.08% or 2.02 points to trade at 27.02 at the close. Meanwhile, A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) added 7.79% or 1.38 points to end at 19.10 and Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR) was up 6.19% or 1.05 points to 18.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which fell 5.36% or 0.015 points to trade at 0.265 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX:MYX) declined 5.19% or 0.020 points to end at 0.365 and Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) was down 3.17% or 0.13 points to 3.97.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 676 to 491 and 399 ended unchanged.
Shares in A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) rose to all time highs; up 7.79% or 1.38 to 19.10.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.97% to 22.437.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.07% or 1.30 to $1737.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.20% or 0.46 to hit $37.92 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.71% or 0.29 to trade at $40.67 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.30% to 0.6905, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 74.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 96.858.