Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.31%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 25.00% or 0.19 points to trade at 0.95 at the close. Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) added 7.65% or 10.07 points to end at 141.66 and Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:SVW) was up 6.78% or 2.49 points to 39.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG), which lost 4.74% or 0.86 points to trade at 17.30 in late trade. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) declined 4.59% or 2.23 points to end at 46.35 and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) shed 4.18% or 0.25 points to 5.73.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 613 to 457 and 431 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 5.40% to 12.69.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.11% or 2.65 to $2,505.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.68% or 0.53 to hit $78.88 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.61% or 0.49 to trade at $81.18 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 97.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 102.54.