Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.39%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE), which rose 18.95% or 0.58 points to trade at 3.64 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 11.29% or 0.035 points to end at 0.345 and Cimic Group Ltd (ASX:CIM) was up 9.80% or 2.76 points to 30.93 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which fell 5.78% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.240 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 4.55% or 0.050 points to end at 1.050 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX:MYX) was down 3.33% or 0.015 points to 0.435.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 729 to 482 and 307 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.49% to 14.552.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.50% or 7.75 to $1563.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.87% or 0.43 to hit $50.04 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.52 to trade at $54.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.6736, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 73.71.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 97.865.