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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.04%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Collins Foods Ltd (ASX:CKF), which rose 8.22% or 0.70 points to trade at 9.22 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 5.61% or 0.06 points to end at 1.13 and Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) was up 4.65% or 0.81 points to 18.22 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN), which fell 5.96% or 1.28 points to trade at 20.18 at the close. Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) declined 3.98% or 0.07 points to end at 1.57 and Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) was down 3.44% or 0.12 points to 3.37.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 562 to 551 and 498 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.10% to 10.74.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.29% or 9.70 to $3,343.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.48% or 0.95 to hit $65.32 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.41% or 0.93 to trade at $67.10 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 94.32.