Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Industrials and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.77% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX:ECX), which rose 7.05% or 0.105 points to trade at 1.595 at the close. Meanwhile, Vocus Group Ltd (ASX:VOC) added 4.90% or 0.150 points to end at 3.210 and Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG) was up 4.88% or 0.140 points to 3.010 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which fell 12.21% or 0.790 points to trade at 5.680 at the close. Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) declined 10.27% or 1.140 points to end at 9.960 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was down 3.65% or 0.150 points to 3.960.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 701 to 511 and 353 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.23% to 10.813.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.06% or 0.85 to $1422.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.37% or 0.21 to hit $56.98 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.22% or 0.14 to trade at $63.97 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.30% to 0.6983, while AUD/JPY fell 0.36% to 75.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.387.
