Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 8.38% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.005 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 7.42% or 0.250 points to end at 3.620 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 4.90% or 0.410 points to 8.770 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which lost 5.12% or 0.530 points to trade at 9.820 in late trade. Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) declined 3.96% or 0.160 points to end at 3.880 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) shed 3.87% or 0.150 points to 3.730.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 641 to 537 and 368 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 3.40% to 11.211.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.24% or 2.90 to $1209.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $75.33 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.15 to trade at $84.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.10% to 0.7181, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 81.68.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 94.95.