Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.45%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.45%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 10.19% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.30 at the close. Meanwhile, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 7.35% or 0.10 points to end at 1.46 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was up 6.37% or 0.05 points to 0.83 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Santos Ltd (ASX:STO), which fell 5.46% or 0.43 points to trade at 7.44 at the close. CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) declined 4.97% or 0.34 points to end at 6.50 and Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) was down 3.25% or 1.34 points to 39.93.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 660 to 488 and 314 ended unchanged.

Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) rose to 52-week highs; rising 6.37% or 0.05 to 0.83.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.79% to 11.34.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.03% or 0.55 to $2,050.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.12% or 0.09 to hit $73.40 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $78.62 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 96.58.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 104.00.