Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.90%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF), which rose 8.78% or 0.480 points to trade at 5.950 at the close. Meanwhile, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 6.48% or 0.47 points to end at 7.72 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) was up 5.98% or 0.40 points to 7.09 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which fell 4.83% or 0.26 points to trade at 5.12 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) declined 3.76% or 0.080 points to end at 2.050 and Worley Ltd (ASX:WOR) was down 3.02% or 0.35 points to 11.25.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 731 to 602 and 393 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.31% to 11.286.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.63% or 11.25 to $1805.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.06% or 0.78 to hit $74.15 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.61 to trade at $75.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7507, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 83.05.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.00% at 92.545.