Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.81%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API), which rose 7.55% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.710 at the close. Meanwhile, Qantas Airways Ltd (AX:QAN) added 6.70% or 0.175 points to end at 2.785 and BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) was up 6.24% or 0.480 points to 8.170 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which fell 3.99% or 0.078 points to trade at 1.863 at the close. Duet Group (AX:DUE) declined 2.99% or 0.075 points to end at 2.435 and Investa Office Fund (AX:IOF) was down 2.96% or 0.130 points to 4.260.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 715 to 334 and 345 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.52% to 20.488.
Gold for August delivery was up 0.44% or 5.85 to $1323.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.56% or 0.27 to hit $48.12 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.39% or 0.19 to trade at $49.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7389, while AUD/JPY fell 0.46% to 75.53.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.01% at 96.20.