Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pacific Brands Ltd (ASX:PBG), which rose 9.88% or 0.043 points to trade at 0.472 at the close. Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX:MYR) added 8.78% or 0.115 points to end at 1.425 and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) was up 8.22% or 0.180 points to 2.370 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX:REG), which lost 3.24% or 0.190 points to trade at 5.670 in late trade. Asaleo Care (ASX:AHY) declined 2.88% or 0.055 points to end at 1.855 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (ASX:SGH) shed 2.60% or 0.200 points to 7.490.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 544 to 425 and 204 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 2.85% to 14.028.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.01% or 0.10 to $1210.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.96% or 1.06 to hit $52.92 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.91% or 0.54 to trade at $58.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.54% to 0.7674, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 91.96.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.41% at 97.84.