Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.81%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API), which rose 7.55% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.710 at the close. Qantas Airways Ltd (AX:QAN) added 6.70% or 0.175 points to end at 2.785 and BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) was up 6.24% or 0.480 points to 8.170 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which lost 3.87% or 0.075 points to trade at 1.865 in late trade. Duet Group (AX:DUE) declined 3.19% or 0.080 points to end at 2.430 and Investa Office Fund (AX:IOF) shed 3.08% or 0.135 points to 4.255.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 716 to 333 and 345 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 7.58% to 20.473.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.44% or 5.85 to $1323.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.56% or 0.27 to hit $48.12 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.16 to trade at $49.42 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7389, while AUD/JPY fell 0.50% to 75.50.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.01% at 96.20.