Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.94%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 6.25% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.360 at the close. Meanwhile, Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) added 4.64% or 0.085 points to end at 1.915 and Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) was up 4.52% or 0.085 points to 1.965 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which fell 7.29% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.780 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 3.42% or 0.130 points to end at 3.670 and Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) was down 2.39% or 0.180 points to 7.360.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 736 to 445 and 383 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.72% to 11.672.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.22% or 2.77 to $1271.37 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.03% or 0.48 to hit $45.98 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.90% or 0.44 to trade at $48.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7551, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 83.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 96.94.