Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.66%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX), which rose 16.09% or 2.170 points to trade at 15.660 at the close. Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL) added 7.11% or 0.085 points to end at 1.280 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) was up 6.55% or 0.055 points to 0.895 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SKC), which fell 3.70% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.900 at the close. ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) declined 3.52% or 0.275 points to end at 7.545 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) was down 2.72% or 0.570 points to 20.420.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 734 to 457 and 436 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.12% to 12.908.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.43% or 5.32 to $1252.22 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.43% or 0.19 to hit $44.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.09 to trade at $46.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.36% to 0.7610, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 85.35.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 96.00.