Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 8.79% or 0.370 points to trade at 4.580 at the close. Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) added 5.45% or 0.450 points to end at 8.710 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 4.56% or 0.055 points to 1.260 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 7.59% or 0.085 points to trade at 1.035 in late trade. Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC) declined 2.49% or 0.350 points to end at 13.680 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) shed 2.22% or 0.020 points to 0.880.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 627 to 597 and 392 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 3.15% to 12.245.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.11% or 1.50 to $1313.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.16% or 0.10 to hit $63.64 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.11 to trade at $67.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7697, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 81.96.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 89.86.