Investing.com – Australian shares were higher after the close on Wednesday, with gains in , and sectors leading shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the index gained 0.33%, hitting a one-month high.
The best performers of the session on the were Wealth group Ltd (ASX:), which rose 4.55% or 1.28 points to trade at 29.41 at the close. In the meantime, Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:) added 4.46% or 0.16 points to end at 3.75 and Hub24 Ltd (ASX:) was up 3.82% or 2.77 points at 75.20 in late trading.
The worst performers of the session were Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:), which fell 6.95% or 0.37 points to trade at 4.95 at the close. Appen Ltd. (ASX:) fell 6.34% or 0.17 points to finish at 2.51 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.18% or 0.12 points at 2.75.
Rising stocks outpaced falling ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange 559 to 505 and 472 finished unchanged.
The index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, fell 4.69% to 10.11, a new one-month low.
Gold futures for February delivery rose 0.36% or 9.80 to $2,769.00 per troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for March delivery fell 0.08% or 0.06 to settle at $75.77 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0 .03% or 0.02 to trade at $79.31 per barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.19% at 0.63, while AUD/JPY rose 0.10% to 97.65.
U.S. dollar index futures rose 0.06% to 107.93.