Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which rose 12.40% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.725 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 4.15% or 0.115 points to end at 2.885 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 3.36% or 0.045 points to 1.385 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Graincorp Ltd (AX:GNC), which lost 4.44% or 0.380 points to trade at 8.170 in late trade. Aveo Group (AX:AOG) declined 2.76% or 0.070 points to end at 2.470 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 2.64% or 0.070 points to 2.580.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 606 to 565 and 344 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 up 4.28% to 12.845.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.20% or 2.60 to $1335.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $48.24 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.08 to trade at $54.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.8027, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 88.35.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 91.80.