Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Telecoms Services and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.35% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL), which rose 8.51% or 0.100 points to trade at 1.275 at the close. Meanwhile, Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN) added 7.39% or 0.150 points to end at 2.180 and Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC) was up 4.86% or 0.520 points to 11.220 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which fell 4.77% or 0.370 points to trade at 7.390 at the close. Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) declined 3.38% or 0.080 points to end at 2.290 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) was down 3.24% or 0.055 points to 1.645.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 613 to 465 and 339 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.97% to 13.431 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.24% or 3.05 to $1291.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.10% or 0.05 to hit $52.16 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.13% or 0.08 to trade at $60.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7206, while AUD/JPY fell 0.09% to 78.18.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 95.542.
