Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.42%

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

At the close in Sydney, the gained 1.42% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the were Charter Hall Group (ASX:), which rose 10.13% or 1.01 points to trade at 10.98 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:) added 9.78% or 0.09 points to end at 1.01 and Nufarm Ltd (ASX:) was up 8.54% or 0.38 points to 4.83 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Computershare Ltd. (ASX:), which fell 5.49% or 1.36 points to trade at 23.42 at the close. Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:) declined 4.71% or 0.74 points to end at 14.98 and IPH Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.99% or 0.28 points to 6.73.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 772 to 473 and 328 ended unchanged.

Shares in IPH Ltd (ASX:) fell to 52-week lows; losing 3.99% or 0.28 to 6.73.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.48% to 11.91.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.17% or 3.30 to $1,969.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.41% or 0.32 to hit $78.44 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.27% or 0.22 to trade at $82.69 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 97.88.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 103.96.