Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, IT and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.13% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which rose 5.30% or 0.845 points to trade at 16.775 at the close. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) added 5.07% or 0.820 points to end at 17.000 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) was up 3.47% or 0.105 points to 3.135 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which lost 4.81% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.770 in late trade. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 4.26% or 0.095 points to end at 2.135 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) shed 3.10% or 0.040 points to 1.250.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 680 to 553 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 1.73% to 12.174.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.20% or 2.50 to $1276.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.70% or 0.46 to hit $65.23 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.39% or 0.29 to trade at $75.37 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7395, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 81.48.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 94.74.