Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Gold sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.03%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which rose 12.40% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.725 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 4.15% or 0.115 points to end at 2.885 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 3.36% or 0.045 points to 1.385 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Graincorp Ltd (AX:GNC), which fell 4.44% or 0.380 points to trade at 8.170 at the close. Aveo Group (AX:AOG) declined 2.76% or 0.070 points to end at 2.470 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) was down 2.64% or 0.070 points to 2.580.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 609 to 565 and 341 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.28% to 12.845.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.18% or 2.36 to $1335.06 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $48.23 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.17% or 0.09 to trade at $54.18 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.8026, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 88.34.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 91.80.