Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.13%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were STW Communications Group Ltd (ASX:SGN), which rose 6.42% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.580 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM) added 4.77% or 0.350 points to end at 7.690 and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) was up 4.58% or 0.110 points to 2.510 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which lost 6.47% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.170 in late trade. Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) declined 6.06% or 0.020 points to end at 0.310 and Pacific Brands Ltd (ASX:PBG) shed 4.05% or 0.015 points to 0.355.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 544 to 474 and 215 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 2.61% to 18.159.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.36% or 4.20 to $1181.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.54% or 0.93 to hit $61.06 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.62 to trade at $65.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.36% to 0.7718, while AUD/JPY fell 0.73% to 94.94.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 94.89.