Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Industrials, Consumer Staples and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ), which rose 12.65% or 0.740 points to trade at 6.590 at the close. Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) added 7.09% or 0.200 points to end at 3.020 and Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) was up 6.64% or 0.570 points to 9.150 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which lost 31.22% or 0.370 points to trade at 0.815 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 6.07% or 0.075 points to end at 1.160 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) shed 6.07% or 0.185 points to 2.865.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 548 to 509 and 364 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 2.44% to 12.415.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.52% or 6.58 to $1248.92 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.25% or 0.13 to hit $51.60 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.16 to trade at $54.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.41% to 0.7449, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 83.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 97.35.