Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.01%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.01% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which rose 4.43% or 0.12 points to trade at 2.83 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 4.04% or 0.07 points to end at 1.68 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was up 3.08% or 0.02 points to 0.67 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which fell 4.08% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.71 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) declined 3.51% or 0.01 points to end at 0.28 and Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) was down 3.12% or 1.16 points to 36.19.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 555 to 523 and 415 ended unchanged.

Shares in Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) rose to 3-years highs; rising 4.43% or 0.12 to 2.83. Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) rose to 52-week highs; up 4.04% or 0.07 to 1.68.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.35% to 11.81.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.08% or 2.10 to $2,594.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.74% or 0.52 to hit $69.44 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.77% or 0.57 to trade at $73.13 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY fell 0.41% to 95.80.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 100.54.