Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Real Estate Investment and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX), which rose 45.78% or 8.620 points to trade at 27.450 at the close. Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) added 4.17% or 0.060 points to end at 1.500 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) was up 4.07% or 0.035 points to 0.895 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which lost 4.06% or 0.055 points to trade at 1.300 in late trade. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) declined 3.57% or 0.035 points to end at 0.945 and Viva Energy Reit Ltd (AX:VVR) shed 3.26% or 0.070 points to 2.080.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 737 to 523 and 361 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 3.54% to 12.363.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.36% or 4.80 to $1340.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.90% or 0.58 to hit $63.92 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.79% or 0.54 to trade at $67.98 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.8076, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 87.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 88.88.