Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, A-REITs and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.73% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV), which rose 9.28% or 0.22 points to trade at 2.59 at the close. Meanwhile, James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX) added 6.84% or 3.45 points to end at 53.89 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was up 5.96% or 0.87 points to 15.47 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which fell 4.24% or 0.05 points to trade at 1.13 at the close. Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) declined 3.11% or 0.10 points to end at 3.12 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was down 2.88% or 0.02 points to 0.51.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 682 to 452 and 444 ended unchanged.
Shares in Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) rose to 52-week highs; up 9.28% or 0.22 to 2.59.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.61% to 11.78.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.02% or 0.60 to $2,468.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.30% or 0.24 to hit $79.47 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.32% or 0.27 to trade at $83.46 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.01% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.27% to 106.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 103.89.