Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.02% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which rose 11.19% or 0.300 points to trade at 2.980 at the close. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) added 5.15% or 0.580 points to end at 11.840 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 4.48% or 0.200 points to 4.660 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Lend Lease Group (AX:LLC), which lost 10.48% or 1.950 points to trade at 16.650 in late trade. Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) declined 5.42% or 0.620 points to end at 10.810 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) shed 4.68% or 0.130 points to 2.650.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 617 to 585 and 341 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 1.14% to 11.191.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.27 to $1286.47 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.35% or 0.18 to hit $52.06 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.33 to trade at $58.21 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7845, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 88.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 93.38.