Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.61% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which rose 7.44% or 0.270 points to trade at 3.900 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) added 4.90% or 0.220 points to end at 4.710 and Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) was up 4.11% or 0.015 points to 0.380 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP), which fell 3.78% or 0.12 points to trade at 2.95 at the close. Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) declined 3.44% or 0.065 points to end at 1.825 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was down 3.15% or 0.040 points to 1.230.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 653 to 649 and 359 ended unchanged.
Shares in Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 7.44% or 0.270 to 3.900.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.78% to 13.786.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.55% or 10.30 to $1864.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.26% or 0.12 to hit $45.72 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.11 to trade at $48.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.47% to 0.7446, while AUD/JPY rose 0.53% to 77.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 90.800.