Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.98% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (AX:MFG), which rose 10.29% or 2.520 points to trade at 27.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN) added 6.94% or 0.135 points to end at 2.080 and Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) was up 5.29% or 0.060 points to 1.195 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which fell 3.51% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.825 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) declined 3.49% or 0.170 points to end at 4.700 and oOh!Media Ltd (AX:OML) was down 3.37% or 0.120 points to 3.440.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 657 to 422 and 340 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.77% to 15.884 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.21% or 2.65 to $1283.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.59% or 0.79 to hit $50.57 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.40% or 0.82 to trade at $59.54 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7155, while AUD/JPY rose 0.32% to 77.87.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 95.368.