Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.12%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which rose 8.09% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.070 at the close. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) added 5.69% or 0.320 points to end at 5.940 and Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) was up 4.62% or 0.110 points to 2.490 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV), which fell 8.66% or 0.400 points to trade at 4.220 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) declined 3.47% or 0.310 points to end at 8.630 and APN News & Media Ltd (AX:APN) was down 3.08% or 0.020 points to 0.630.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 448 to 446 and 311 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.60% to 17.019.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.16% or 2.00 to $1239.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.07% or 0.41 to hit $38.69 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.83% or 0.33 to trade at $40.18 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7636, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 85.75.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 95.09.