Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cabcharge Australia Ltd (AX:CAB), which rose 6.23% or 0.170 points to trade at 2.900 at the close. M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) added 5.80% or 0.065 points to end at 1.185 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was up 5.67% or 0.170 points to 3.170 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which lost 7.87% or 0.210 points to trade at 2.460 in late trade. Paladin Energy Ltd (AX:PDN) declined 7.69% or 0.020 points to end at 0.240 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) shed 7.06% or 0.090 points to 1.185.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 482 to 464 and 137 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 4.37% to 19.248.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.13% or 1.40 to $1070.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.79% or 0.32 to hit $40.99 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.23 to trade at $43.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7105, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 87.58.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% at 99.69.