Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.16% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN), which rose 7.88% or 0.145 points to trade at 1.985 at the close. Meanwhile, Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) added 7.52% or 0.170 points to end at 2.430 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was up 7.05% or 0.055 points to 0.835 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG), which fell 7.78% or 0.700 points to trade at 8.300 at the close. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) declined 7.09% or 0.410 points to end at 5.370 and ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) was down 4.38% or 0.330 points to 7.210.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 661 to 516 and 373 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.89% to 13.407.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.01% or 0.15 to $1273.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.97% or 0.61 to hit $62.52 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.40 to trade at $71.78 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.06% to 0.6879, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 75.99.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 97.922.
