Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment, Consumer Staples and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.14% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Westfield Corporation (AX:WFD), which rose 13.88% or 1.180 points to trade at 9.680 at the close. Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) added 8.38% or 0.121 points to end at 1.565 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) was up 6.73% or 0.230 points to 3.650 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Iron Mountain Inc (AX:INM), which lost 6.56% or 3.49 points to trade at 49.73 in late trade. Asaleo Care (AX:AHY) declined 4.64% or 0.070 points to end at 1.440 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) shed 3.38% or 0.780 points to 22.300.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 664 to 559 and 356 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 1.10% to 10.889.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.35% or 4.40 to $1246.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.67% or 0.38 to hit $57.52 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.01% or 0.64 to trade at $63.98 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.26% to 0.7578, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 85.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 93.92.