Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.38%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.38%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which rose 11.59% or 0.08 points to trade at 0.77 at the close. Meanwhile, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) added 5.45% or 0.49 points to end at 9.48 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX:IPL) was up 5.42% or 0.15 points to 2.92 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which fell 3.11% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.78 at the close. Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) declined 2.96% or 0.05 points to end at 1.64 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) was down 2.19% or 0.11 points to 4.92.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 653 to 601 and 430 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.98% to 13.04.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.13% or 2.55 to $1,939.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $74.85 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.01% or 0.01 to trade at $79.41 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.50% to 93.37.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.24% at 101.15.