Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Utilities and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cabcharge Australia Ltd (AX:CAB), which rose 6.23% or 0.170 points to trade at 2.900 at the close. Meanwhile, M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) added 5.80% or 0.065 points to end at 1.185 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was up 5.67% or 0.170 points to 3.170 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which fell 7.87% or 0.210 points to trade at 2.460 at the close. Paladin Energy Ltd (AX:PDN) declined 7.69% or 0.020 points to end at 0.240 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was down 7.06% or 0.090 points to 1.185.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 482 to 464 and 137 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.37% to 19.248.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.12% or 1.30 to $1069.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.79% or 0.32 to hit $40.99 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.21 to trade at $43.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7105, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 87.58.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 99.70.