Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.25%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA), which rose 11.24% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.495 at the close. Meanwhile, Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) added 9.78% or 0.220 points to end at 2.470 and Skilled Group Ltd (ASX:SKE) was up 6.72% or 0.080 points to 1.270 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH), which fell 5.13% or 0.020 points to trade at 0.370 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) declined 5.12% or 0.075 points to end at 1.390 and BC Iron Ltd (ASX:BCI) was down 4.21% or 0.020 points to 0.455.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 283 to 211 and 40 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.15% to 13.157.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.10% or 1.20 to $1179.20 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.97% or 0.56 to hit $56.56 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.18 to trade at $61.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.25% to 0.8122, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 97.75.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.09% at 90.26.