Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.06% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which rose 12.14% or 0.210 points to trade at 1.940 at the close. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) added 5.08% or 0.065 points to end at 1.345 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 4.89% or 0.170 points to 3.650 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 17.93% or 0.355 points to trade at 1.625 in late trade. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) declined 2.84% or 0.020 points to end at 0.685 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) shed 2.03% or 0.150 points to 7.240.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 616 to 594 and 380 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 1.15% to 10.628.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.23% or 2.90 to $1267.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.31% or 0.18 to hit $57.74 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.10 to trade at $63.90 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7661, while AUD/JPY rose 0.08% to 86.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 93.05.