Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Telecoms Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.93% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX:BVS), which rose 14.48% or 0.630 points to trade at 4.980 at the close. Meanwhile, Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) added 7.62% or 0.080 points to end at 1.130 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was up 7.51% or 0.080 points to 1.145 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ), which fell 4.79% or 0.390 points to trade at 7.750 at the close. Vocus Group Ltd (ASX:VOC) declined 3.61% or 0.120 points to end at 3.200 and Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) was down 3.51% or 0.030 points to 0.825.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 638 to 503 and 356 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ) fell to 5-year lows; falling 4.79% or 0.390 to 7.750.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.36% to 11.321.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.12% or 1.75 to $1465.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.29% or 0.17 to hit $58.24 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.28% or 0.18 to trade at $63.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.6777, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 73.99.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 98.275.