Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.59% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which rose 6.21% or 7.66 points to trade at 131.00 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) added 4.95% or 0.330 points to end at 7.000 and Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) was up 4.72% or 0.170 points to 3.770 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG), which lost 2.98% or 0.100 points to trade at 3.260 in late trade. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) declined 2.72% or 0.370 points to end at 13.240 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 2.63% or 0.130 points to 4.820.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 690 to 497 and 348 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 0.28% to 11.433.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.17% or 2.20 to $1291.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.41% or 0.21 to hit $51.13 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.16 to trade at $56.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7788, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 87.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 93.03.