Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which rose 5.65% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.935 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) added 4.67% or 0.640 points to end at 14.350 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 3.54% or 0.640 points to 18.740 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fletcher Building Ltd (AX:FBU), which lost 5.26% or 0.380 points to trade at 6.840 in late trade. Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) declined 3.98% or 0.065 points to end at 1.570 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) shed 3.62% or 0.100 points to 2.660.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 611 to 598 and 332 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.22% to 11.114.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 3.13 to $1275.17 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.25% or 0.13 to hit $52.34 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $58.33 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.69% to 0.7722, while AUD/JPY fell 0.76% to 87.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 93.81.