Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Gold and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.31%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX:SKI), which rose 7.83% or 0.180 points to trade at 2.480 at the close. Meanwhile, Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL) added 6.17% or 4.44 points to end at 76.43 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was up 5.06% or 0.085 points to 1.765 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P), which fell 11.38% or 0.94 points to trade at 7.32 at the close. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) declined 9.59% or 11.35 points to end at 107.00 and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) was down 5.63% or 0.360 points to 6.040.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 680 to 647 and 402 ended unchanged.
Shares in Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX:SKI) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 7.83% or 0.180 to 2.480.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.05% to 11.627.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.24% or 4.30 to $1814.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.05% or 0.04 to hit $75.29 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $76.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.19% to 0.7460, while AUD/JPY rose 0.05% to 82.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 92.655.