Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Gold and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.01%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 5.31% or 0.850 points to trade at 16.850 at the close. Meanwhile, Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB) added 4.65% or 0.120 points to end at 2.700 and Appen Ltd (AX:APX) was up 4.37% or 0.595 points to 14.225 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API), which fell 8.97% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.725 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) declined 5.74% or 0.135 points to end at 2.215 and Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) was down 3.29% or 0.330 points to 9.690.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 586 to 568 and 367 ended unchanged.
Shares in Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) fell to 5-year lows; down 5.74% or 0.135 to 2.215.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.67% to 10.871.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.08% or 1.00 to $1206.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.19% or 0.14 to hit $72.14 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.09 to trade at $81.17 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7263, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 82.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 93.76.