Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.99% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 15.59% or 1.500 points to trade at 11.120 at the close. Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX) added 7.69% or 0.075 points to end at 1.050 and Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) was up 4.73% or 1.010 points to 22.350 in late trade.
Biggest losers included New Hope Corporation Ltd (AX:NHC), which lost 4.51% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.750 in late trade. Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) declined 3.89% or 0.360 points to end at 8.900 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) shed 3.75% or 0.180 points to 4.620.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 630 to 532 and 407 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 0.30% to 11.495.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.05% or 0.70 to $1272.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.47% or 0.31 to hit $65.99 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.39% or 0.29 to trade at $74.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.88% to 0.7038, while AUD/JPY fell 0.93% to 78.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 97.357.