Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.28%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 8.16% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.53 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 6.54% or 0.20 points to end at 3.26 and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) was up 3.59% or 0.22 points to 6.35 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC), which fell 4.28% or 0.38 points to trade at 8.50 at the close. Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) declined 4.06% or 0.53 points to end at 12.53 and Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW) was down 3.13% or 0.01 points to 0.39.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 601 to 515 and 424 ended unchanged.
Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) rose to 52-week highs; up 8.16% or 0.12 to 1.53. Shares in Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) rose to 3-years highs; up 6.54% or 0.20 to 3.26.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.16% to 11.11.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.48% or 11.25 to $2,344.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.47% or 0.39 to hit $83.20 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.50% or 0.43 to trade at $86.67 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.09% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.37% to 108.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 105.48.