Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.83%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.83%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 6.61% or 0.20 points to trade at 3.15 at the close. Meanwhile, Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL) added 5.98% or 1.23 points to end at 21.79 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 5.85% or 0.12 points to 2.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG), which fell 6.09% or 0.19 points to trade at 2.86 at the close. IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) declined 4.85% or 0.26 points to end at 5.10 and Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC) was down 4.28% or 0.06 points to 1.23.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 552 to 463 and 418 ended unchanged.

Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 6.61% or 0.20 to 3.15.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 13.50% to 11.82.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.07% or 2.05 to $2,747.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.29% or 0.93 to hit $71.06 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.32% or 1.00 to trade at $74.53 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 1.29% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.14% to 100.52.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.25% at 104.61.