Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrials, Consumer Discretionary and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.84%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were GWA Group Ltd (ASX:GWA), which rose 8.16% or 0.20 points to trade at 2.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) added 6.25% or 0.010 points to end at 0.170 and United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) was up 6.23% or 0.24 points to 4.09 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ioof Holdings Ltd (ASX:IFL), which fell 16.04% or 0.68 points to trade at 3.58 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) declined 3.37% or 0.030 points to end at 0.860 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was down 2.02% or 0.030 points to 1.455.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 723 to 575 and 334 ended unchanged.
Shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) fell to 3-years lows; falling 3.37% or 0.030 to 0.860.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 11.60% to 19.266.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.41% or 8.20 to $1970.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.87% or 0.37 to hit $43.13 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.79% or 0.36 to trade at $45.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.26% to 0.7352, while AUD/JPY fell 0.19% to 77.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 92.420.