Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Industrials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 5.54%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT), which rose 33.81% or 3.79 points to trade at 15.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) added 26.25% or 0.68 points to end at 3.27 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 22.22% or 0.160 points to 0.880 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Invocare Ltd (ASX:IVC), which fell 12.15% or 1.36 points to trade at 9.83 at the close. Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI) declined 11.62% or 0.33 points to end at 2.51 and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) was down 8.49% or 1.16 points to 12.51.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 915 to 291 and 228 ended unchanged.
Shares in Invocare Ltd (ASX:IVC) fell to 5-year lows; falling 12.15% or 1.36 to 9.83. Shares in Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI) fell to 52-week lows; losing 11.62% or 0.33 to 2.51.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.25% to 43.734.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.69% or 11.45 to $1672.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 3.92% or 0.94 to hit $24.95 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.98% or 0.81 to trade at $27.96 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 1.34% to 0.6037, while AUD/JPY rose 1.40% to 67.18.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.64% at 101.590.