Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.49% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which rose 7.69% or 0.075 points to trade at 1.050 at the close. Meanwhile, Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) added 7.54% or 0.260 points to end at 3.710 and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (AX:HVN) was up 5.82% or 0.220 points to 4.000 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M), which fell 6.04% or 0.460 points to trade at 7.160 at the close. CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) declined 5.49% or 0.260 points to end at 4.480 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) was down 4.58% or 0.035 points to 0.730.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 705 to 523 and 345 ended unchanged.
Shares in Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) rose to 52-week highs; rising 7.69% or 0.075 to 1.050.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.10% to 11.408.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.36 to $1270.86 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.42% or 0.23 to hit $54.61 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.31% or 0.19 to trade at $61.13 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7661, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 87.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 94.58.