Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.77%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.77%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG ), which rose 6.41% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.41 at the close. Meanwhile, Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL ) added 5.41% or 0.14 points to end at 2.73 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX ) was up 4.64% or 0.13 points to 2.93 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL ), which fell 6.07% or 0.40 points to trade at 6.19 at the close. Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP ) declined 4.88% or 0.16 points to end at 3.12 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB ) was down 2.95% or 0.09 points to 2.96.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 540 to 529 and 449 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.51% to 10.81.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.11% or 2.99 to $2,662.41 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.63% or 0.47 to hit $74.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.37 to trade at $77.42 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 98.51.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 108.43.

Source: Investing.com