Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrials, A-REITs and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.78%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW), which rose 6.36% or 0.32 points to trade at 5.35 at the close. Meanwhile, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 6.20% or 0.320 points to end at 5.480 and Atlas Arteria (ASX:ALX) was up 5.68% or 0.32 points to 5.95 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which fell 3.70% or 0.220 points to trade at 5.730 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) declined 3.59% or 0.055 points to end at 1.475 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was down 3.06% or 0.50 points to 15.83.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 710 to 623 and 356 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.55% to 12.056.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.09% or 1.55 to $1684.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.53% or 0.32 to hit $60.87 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.47% or 0.30 to trade at $64.47 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7607, while AUD/JPY rose 0.51% to 84.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 93.240.