Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.91%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bapcor Ltd (AX:BAP), which rose 7.77% or 0.390 points to trade at 5.410 at the close. TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) added 7.41% or 0.500 points to end at 7.250 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 6.59% or 0.270 points to 4.370 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX:REG), which lost 4.39% or 0.200 points to trade at 4.360 in late trade. Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) declined 4.21% or 0.120 points to end at 2.730 and Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) shed 2.74% or 0.180 points to 6.400.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 578 to 445 and 325 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 4.88% to 11.785 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.09% or 1.10 to $1169.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.77% or 0.39 to hit $50.54 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.65% or 0.35 to trade at $53.58 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.44% to 0.7428, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 84.89.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 100.55.