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 0.94%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 6.25% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.360 at the close. Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) added 4.64% or 0.085 points to end at 1.915 and Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) was up 4.52% or 0.085 points to 1.965 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which lost 7.29% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.780 in late trade. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 3.42% or 0.130 points to end at 3.670 and Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) shed 2.39% or 0.180 points to 7.360.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 737 to 445 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 5.72% to 11.672.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.24% or 3.06 to $1271.66 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.03% or 0.48 to hit $45.98 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.86% or 0.42 to trade at $48.30 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7551, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 83.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 96.92.