An overnight advance of nickel helped Western Areas climb 3.1 per cent to $3.67 while Sandfire Resources advanced 3.8 per cent to $9.26 on a three-month high copper price.

NYMEX light sweet crude prices rose 1.2 per cent overnight, ending a two-week fall that saw the oil price drop more than 10 per cent. The price helped Beach Energy rise 3.5 per cent to $1.65, while Oil Search rose 2.6 per cent to $8.37.

Outside of the resources, CSL helped the index climb 4.5 points as it rose 1.5 per cent. The company's price did climb above $190 for the first time in the company's history during Wednesday's trade, before closing slightly lower at $189.64

Xero advanced on a Morgan Stanley note that forecast the cloud accountancy software's continued growth in the Australian market. The broker said it would overtake MYOB for market share as the older company's share price begins to decline. Xero's shares advanced 3.1 per cent to $43.61.

The inquiry into the operation and effectiveness of the Franchising Code of Conduct may have rattled franchise stocks on Wednesday, with investors selling off ahead of a public hearing on Friday. Domino's Pizza shares fell 4.4 per cent to $51.04, while Retail Food Group closed at 71¢, down 6.6 per cent.

Stock watch

Commonwealth Bank

Morgan Stanley believes that Commonwealth Bank shares will continue to lose value and fall to their lowest levels since early 2013. The broker is remaining underweight on all of the big four banks and has downgraded their price targets, citing changes in the outlook for housing loan growth and downgrades to revenue growth forecasts.The broker says that Commonwealth Bank is their least preferred of the big four due to the implications arising from the AUSTRAC case. It said it was expecting the bank to have weaker-than-forecast margins in the second half of 2018 due to competition for new loans and home loan switches. Morgan Stanley's Macro+ team is forecasting Australia's decoupling from the global recovery and a national credit crunch, leading to its price target of $64.

What moved the market

GDP

Australia's GDP grew 1 per cent for the March quarter, beating out market expectations of a 0.9 per cent growth. This took the annual growth rate to 3.1 per cent, above the the consensus forecast of 2.9 per cent growth. While the data signals a positive start to 2018, chief economist at AMP Capital, Shane Oliver said that he expected growth to slow. "While the March quarter GDP data shows that the Australian economy started the year strongly, we still expect Australian growth in 2018 to be a little below the RBA's forecast of "a bit above 3%" because of a constrained consumer and a slowing housing market," he said.

Copper

Copper prices have surged on concerns that workers at the world's largest copper mine could strike for several days over wage concerns. Workers at BHP's Escondida mine in Chile could repeat last year's 44-day strike according to the union which is demanding the largest one-time bonus in Chilean mining history. The union has said it has a special fund that means they could afford to pay the workers if they did strike for 44 days. The Escondida mine is responsible for approximately 4.5 per cent of the world's copper supply. Copper rose over $US7,000 a tonne, hitting a more than three month high on the London Metal Exchange.

British pound

The British pound has lifted against the US dollar this week, rebounding after more than a month of consistent decline. The pound found advanced overnight on the back of better than expected UK PMI data for May. The latest data suggested that the UK may be bouncing back from a weaker first quarter, helping to push the currency higher. Market analysts are saying that it's likely that the Bank of England raises interest rates in November. Despite this strength, Brexit-related issues are set to cap the pound rebound in the near-term. The upcoming EU Leaders' Summit will be critical for Brexit plans and will likely affect the pound.

Mortgage Choice

Mortgage Choice has recovered some of the losses made on Tuesday after a joint ABC and Fairfax Media investigation revealed it faced potential backlash from disgruntled franchisees. The company released a statement on Wednesday, refuting the allegations made in the media that its current business model encouraged poor behaviour. It said it worked closes with is franchisees to assist them in growing their businesses. Mortgage Choice chief executive Susan Mitchell said the company took allegations of fraudulent behaviour seriously and that the wellbeing of its franchisees was a priority. It's shares rose 9.5 per cent to $1.62 on Wednesday following a 22 per cent fall on Tuesday.