Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which rose 9.21% or 0.170 points to trade at 2.015 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 5.79% or 0.140 points to end at 2.560 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 5.49% or 0.680 points to 13.070 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 5.36% or 0.063 points to trade at 1.103 in late trade. Henderson Group PLC (AX:HGG) declined 3.39% or 0.130 points to end at 3.700 and TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) shed 3.03% or 0.210 points to 6.720.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 574 to 521 and 332 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 4.73% to 12.918.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.52% or 6.30 to $1204.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.34% or 0.18 to hit $53.00 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.14 to trade at $55.30 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.57% to 0.7539, while AUD/JPY fell 0.74% to 85.64.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 100.25.