Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Energy, Telecoms Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC), which rose 11.71% or 0.175 points to trade at 1.670 at the close. CYBG PLC (AX:CYB) added 11.21% or 0.530 points to end at 5.260 and Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG) was up 10.58% or 0.155 points to 1.620 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 9.25% or 0.118 points to trade at 1.153 in late trade. Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) declined 4.86% or 0.975 points to end at 19.075 and Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) shed 4.70% or 0.095 points to 1.925.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 593 to 419 and 356 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 6.21% to 16.796.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.33% or 4.05 to $1225.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.32% or 0.64 to hit $49.26 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.25% or 0.61 to trade at $49.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.33% to 0.7206, while AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 79.24.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 95.52.