Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.75% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which rose 6.79% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.360 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) added 5.71% or 0.040 points to end at 0.740 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 5.54% or 0.260 points to 4.950 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG), which lost 3.43% or 0.055 points to trade at 1.550 in late trade. Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) declined 3.43% or 0.070 points to end at 1.970 and Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT) shed 2.84% or 1.180 points to 40.410.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 613 to 505 and 382 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 4.95% to 11.681.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.35% or 4.55 to $1289.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.88% or 0.50 to hit $56.06 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.77% or 0.51 to trade at $65.35 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.64% to 0.7036, while AUD/JPY fell 0.73% to 78.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 96.863.