Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, A-REITs and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.08%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX:TWE), which rose 11.67% or 1.230 points to trade at 11.770 at the close. Meanwhile, Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX:VCX) added 11.01% or 0.185 points to end at 1.865 and Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) was up 8.57% or 0.105 points to 1.330 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL), which fell 9.76% or 1.45 points to trade at 13.40 at the close. Hub24 Ltd (ASX:HUB) declined 8.04% or 2.05 points to end at 23.44 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) was down 3.97% or 0.12 points to 2.90.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 946 to 450 and 385 ended unchanged.
Shares in Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX:VCX) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 11.01% or 0.185 to 1.865.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 13.68% to 15.116.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.60 to $1856.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.49% or 0.45 to hit $92.52 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.42 to trade at $93.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7172, while AUD/JPY rose 0.33% to 82.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 95.870.