Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.01%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG), which rose 20.73% or 0.170 points to trade at 0.990 at the close. Meanwhile, Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) added 6.05% or 0.450 points to end at 7.890 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 4.80% or 0.440 points to 9.600 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which fell 5.04% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.900 at the close. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) declined 3.88% or 0.075 points to end at 1.860 and Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX:SPK) was down 3.83% or 0.130 points to 3.260.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 517 to 470 and 372 ended unchanged.
Shares in Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.04% or 0.260 to 4.900. Shares in Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) rose to 52-week highs; up 4.80% or 0.440 to 9.600.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.86% to 16.347.
Gold for August delivery was up 0.38% or 4.75 to $1251.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.28% or 0.14 to hit $50.50 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.07 to trade at $51.51 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.05% to 0.7454, while AUD/JPY fell 0.27% to 79.84.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.10% at 93.75.