Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecoms Services and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.68%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB), which rose 9.61% or 1.120 points to trade at 12.780 at the close. Meanwhile, Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) added 5.22% or 0.030 points to end at 0.605 and ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) was up 3.63% or 0.330 points to 9.430 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA), which fell 4.61% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.725 at the close. Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) declined 4.60% or 0.080 points to end at 1.660 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was down 3.99% or 1.310 points to 31.500.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 567 to 566 and 328 ended unchanged.
Shares in ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) rose to 5-year highs; rising 3.63% or 0.330 to 9.430.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.67% to 12.529.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.01% or 0.15 to $1468.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.56% or 0.33 to hit $58.91 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.65% or 0.42 to trade at $63.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.6818, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 74.12.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 97.490.
