Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.11%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 11.48% or 0.155 points to trade at 1.505 at the close. Meanwhile, Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) added 8.87% or 0.260 points to end at 3.190 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 8.02% or 0.190 points to 2.560 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Santos Ltd (AX:STO), which fell 4.75% or 0.210 points to trade at 4.210 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) declined 4.41% or 0.060 points to end at 1.300 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was down 3.48% or 0.180 points to 4.990.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 606 to 478 and 330 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.76% to 12.847.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.09% or 1.25 to $1355.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.62% or 0.28 to hit $45.11 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.27 to trade at $47.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7679, while AUD/JPY fell 0.71% to 77.88.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 94.78.