Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.67%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the gained 0.67% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the were Magellan Financial Group Ltd, which rose 8.53% or 1.28 points to trade at 16.29 at the close. Meanwhile, Megaport Ltd added 6.97% or 0.92 points to end at 14.12 and Unibail Rodamco Westfield was up 5.96% or 0.28 points to 4.98 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Incitec Pivot Ltd, which fell 5.50% or 0.22 points to trade at 3.78 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd declined 4.58% or 0.07 points to end at 1.46 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd was down 3.53% or 0.15 points to 4.10.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 820 to 641 and 354 ended unchanged.

The measures that implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.22% to 12.43 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.47% or 8.90 to $1,921.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.23% or 2.32 to hit $106.56 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.92% or 2.07 to trade at $109.78 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.08% to 0.75, while AUD/JPY fell 0.87% to 91.47.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 98.06.