Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.50% By Investing.com

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 rose 0.50%.

The best performers of the session on the were Graincorp Ltd (ASX:), which rose 6.16% or 0.29 points to trade at 5.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Rea Group Ltd (ASX:) added 4.89% or 6.56 points to end at 140.61 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.32% or 0.075 points to 1.810 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:), which fell 9.05% or 0.560 points to trade at 5.630 at the close. Virgin Money PLC (ASX:) declined 4.93% or 0.17 points to end at 3.28 and Webjet Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.55% or 0.27 points to 5.67.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 786 to 524 and 378 ended unchanged.

Shares in Graincorp Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; rising 6.16% or 0.29 to 5.00.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.79% to 13.120.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.15% or 2.65 to $1727.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.40% or 0.81 to hit $58.57 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.45% or 0.88 to trade at $61.67 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.35% to 0.7595, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 82.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 92.558.