Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrials, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Asciano Ltd (ASX:AIO), which rose 16.84% or 1.120 points to trade at 7.770 at the close. Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) added 8.16% or 0.020 points to end at 0.265 and Tassal Group Ltd (ASX:TGR) was up 8.11% or 0.270 points to 3.600 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN), which lost 5.26% or 0.010 points to trade at 0.180 in late trade. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) declined 4.19% or 0.080 points to end at 1.830 and Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) shed 4.12% or 0.040 points to 0.930.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 634 to 333 and 138 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 7.06% to 18.497.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.11% or 1.30 to $1173.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.46% or 0.87 to hit $58.60 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.21% or 0.77 to trade at $62.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7717, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 94.66.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 95.87.