Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which rose 12.57% or 2.120 points to trade at 18.990 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) added 8.31% or 0.340 points to end at 4.430 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) was up 6.30% or 0.470 points to 7.930 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB), which lost 11.55% or 1.370 points to trade at 10.490 in late trade. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (AX:FPH) declined 5.29% or 0.630 points to end at 11.270 and Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN) shed 3.97% or 0.110 points to 2.660.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 681 to 562 and 359 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 1.28% to 10.723 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.02% or 0.20 to $1281.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.51% or 0.86 to hit $57.69 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.41 to trade at $62.98 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.7566, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 84.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 93.84.