CANBERRA: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and A-REITs sectors led shares higher. At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.02% to hit a new 3-months high. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which rose 11.19% or 0.300 points to trade at 2.980 at the close. Meanwhile, Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) added 5.15% or 0.580 points to end at 11.840 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 4.48% or 0.200 points to 4.660 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Lend Lease Group (AX:LLC), which fell 10.48% or 1.950 points to trade at 16.650 at the close. Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) declined 5.42% or 0.620 points to end at 10.810 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was down 4.68% or 0.130 points to 2.650. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 617 to 585 and 341 ended unchanged. Shares in Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) rose to all time highs; rising 5.15% or 0.580 to 11.840. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.14% to 11.191. Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.00% or 0.06 to $1286.26 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.35% or 0.18 to hit $52.06 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.34 to trade at $58.22 a barrel. AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7845, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 88.09. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 93.38.
