Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.06%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 19.30% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.34 at the close. Meanwhile, Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) added 15.56% or 0.68 points to end at 5.05 and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) was up 9.05% or 0.60 points to 7.23 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which fell 33.41% or 1.46 points to trade at 2.91 at the close. Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) declined 4.09% or 0.07 points to end at 1.52 and AUB Group Ltd (ASX:AUB) was down 3.67% or 1.14 points to 29.93.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 591 to 585 and 437 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) fell to 5-year lows; losing 33.41% or 1.46 to 2.91.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.54% to 10.82.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.07% or 1.45 to $2,024.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $74.27 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.10 to trade at $79.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.52% to 97.12.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 103.26.