CANBERRA: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.26%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 7.83% or 0.033 points to trade at 0.448 at the close. Meanwhile, Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 4.73% or 0.105 points to end at 2.325 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was up 4.59% or 0.280 points to 6.380 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS), which fell 5.35% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.300 at the close. G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) declined 4.77% or 0.190 points to end at 3.790 and Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) was down 4.43% or 0.035 points to 0.755. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 570 to 520 and 361 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.06% to 11.869. Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.12% or 1.55 to $1256.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.78% or 0.40 to hit $51.43 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.68% or 0.37 to trade at $54.54 a barrel. AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7580, while AUD/JPY rose 0.19% to 83.94. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 100.41.
