Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment, Consumer Staples and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 7.42% or 1.470 points to trade at 21.270 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) added 5.17% or 0.600 points to end at 12.200 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) was up 4.38% or 0.330 points to 7.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 8.60% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.850 in late trade. G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) declined 4.23% or 0.110 points to end at 2.490 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 3.51% or 0.190 points to 5.230.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 638 to 573 and 379 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 4.06% to 16.801 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.02% or 0.30 to $1337.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.33% or 0.21 to hit $63.30 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.24 to trade at $67.88 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7695, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 82.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 89.82.