Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Australian Real Estate Investment Trust and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.62%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 13.51% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.420 at the close. Meanwhile, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 6.93% or 0.140 points to end at 2.160 and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) was up 6.18% or 0.055 points to 0.945 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX:HZN), which fell 3.85% or 0.005 points to trade at 0.125 at the close. Spark New Zealand Ltd (ASX:SPK) declined 2.85% or 0.090 points to end at 3.070 and Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO) was down 2.78% or 0.005 points to 0.175.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 359 to 218 and 27 ended unchanged.
Shares in Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX:HZN) fell to 5-year lows; down 3.85% or 0.005 to 0.125. Shares in Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) rose to all time highs; up 6.93% or 0.140 to 2.160.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.83% to 15.534.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.48% or 6.20 to $1300.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 1.10% or 0.51 to hit $46.98 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.30 to trade at $48.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.54% to 0.8213, while AUD/JPY fell 0.31% to 96.78.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 93.08.