Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX), which rose 16.09% or 2.170 points to trade at 15.660 at the close. Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL) added 6.90% or 0.083 points to end at 1.278 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) was up 6.55% or 0.055 points to 0.895 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SKC), which lost 3.70% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.900 in late trade. ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) declined 3.52% or 0.275 points to end at 7.545 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) shed 2.72% or 0.570 points to 20.420.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 732 to 459 and 436 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 0.12% to 12.908.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.43% or 5.40 to $1252.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.43% or 0.19 to hit $44.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.09 to trade at $46.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7611, while AUD/JPY rose 0.22% to 85.37.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 96.00.