Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.96% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG), which rose 8.74% or 0.125 points to trade at 1.555 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) added 6.11% or 0.140 points to end at 2.430 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was up 5.48% or 0.020 points to 0.385 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which lost 8.94% or 0.530 points to trade at 5.400 in late trade. AWE Ltd (AX:AWE) declined 7.64% or 0.055 points to end at 0.665 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) shed 6.45% or 0.050 points to 0.725.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 483 to 454 and 277 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 5.01% to 17.803.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.48% or 6.00 to $1256.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.63% or 0.23 to hit $36.73 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.71% or 0.28 to trade at $39.93 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.7429, while AUD/JPY fell 0.18% to 83.61.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.24% at 97.39.