Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.18%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the A-REITs, Utilities and Gold sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.18%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC), which rose 10.76% or 0.24 points to trade at 2.47 at the close. Meanwhile, Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) added 8.00% or 0.06 points to end at 0.81 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was up 6.38% or 0.21 points to 3.50 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA), which fell 20.70% or 1.01 points to trade at 3.87 at the close. Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL) declined 18.12% or 0.63 points to end at 2.87 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 8.11% or 0.84 points to 9.52.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 684 to 583 and 361 ended unchanged.

Shares in Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) fell to 3-years lows; down 20.70% or 1.01 to 3.87. Shares in Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL) fell to 52-week lows; down 18.12% or 0.63 to 2.87.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.88% to 18.34.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.99% or 16.45 to $1,674.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.74% or 0.63 to hit $84.69 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.90% or 0.83 to trade at $90.91 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 1.17% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.65% to 95.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.64% at 110.12.