Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Staples and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AGL Energy Ltd (AX:AGL), which rose 5.43% or 0.960 points to trade at 18.640 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) added 4.64% or 0.160 points to end at 3.610 and Infigen Energy (AX:IFN) was up 4.58% or 0.035 points to 0.800 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which lost 8.59% or 0.028 points to trade at 0.292 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 8.45% or 0.185 points to end at 2.005 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) shed 4.11% or 0.130 points to 3.030.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 534 to 511 and 354 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 up 3.55% to 13.899.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.11% or 1.45 to $1328.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.25% or 0.11 to hit $44.78 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.37% or 0.17 to trade at $46.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.23% to 0.7684, while AUD/JPY rose 0.43% to 77.31.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 95.42.