Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.43% By Investing.com

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

At the close in Sydney, the rose 0.43% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:), which rose 11.62% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.11 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:) added 8.42% or 0.78 points to end at 10.04 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:) was up 7.69% or 1.40 points to 19.60 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:), which fell 8.57% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.16 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) declined 6.20% or 0.04 points to end at 0.61 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:) was down 5.15% or 0.04 points to 0.65.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 707 to 571 and 388 ended unchanged.

Shares in Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:) fell to all time lows; losing 8.57% or 0.02 to 0.16.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.35% to 12.82.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.12% or 19.65 to $1,768.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.74% or 0.58 to hit $78.78 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.83% or 0.70 to trade at $84.95 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.43% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 93.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 106.57.