Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.36%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 8.38% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.005 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 7.27% or 0.245 points to end at 3.615 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 4.90% or 0.410 points to 8.770 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which fell 5.02% or 0.520 points to trade at 9.830 at the close. Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) declined 3.96% or 0.160 points to end at 3.880 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was down 3.87% or 0.150 points to 3.730.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 638 to 537 and 371 ended unchanged.
Shares in Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) fell to 52-week lows; losing 3.96% or 0.160 to 3.880.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.40% to 11.211.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.22% or 2.60 to $1209.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $75.33 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.17% or 0.14 to trade at $84.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7180, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 81.68.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 94.96.