Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.35%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals&Mining, Materials and Resources sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL), which rose 7.12% or 1.13 points to trade at 17.01 at the close. Meanwhile, Ansell Ltd (ASX:ANN) added 3.99% or 0.99 points to end at 25.83 and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) was up 3.21% or 3.63 points to 116.80 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 5.78% or 0.08 points to trade at 1.26 at the close. Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) declined 4.02% or 0.09 points to end at 2.15 and Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) was down 4.00% or 0.11 points to 2.64.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 591 to 558 and 465 ended unchanged.

Shares in Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) fell to 5-year lows; losing 4.00% or 0.11 to 2.64.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.57% to 11.48.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.15% or 3.45 to $2,363.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.72% or 0.56 to hit $78.58 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.63% or 0.52 to trade at $82.90 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.26% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 103.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 104.85.