Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (AX:QBE), which rose 5.47% or 0.570 points to trade at 11.000 at the close. Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) added 4.18% or 0.610 points to end at 15.190 and Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG) was up 3.67% or 0.110 points to 3.110 in late trade.
Biggest losers included GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA), which lost 4.42% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.810 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 3.90% or 0.150 points to end at 3.700 and HT&E Ltd (AX:HT1) shed 3.51% or 0.060 points to 1.650.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 654 to 554 and 399 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 1.91% to 11.015.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.28% or 3.80 to $1340.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $64.45 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.13 to trade at $69.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.8013, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 88.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 89.74.