Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.67%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials , Materials and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.67% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Metcash Ltd (AX: MTS ), which rose 10.45% or 0.280 points to trade at 2.960 at the close. Boral Ltd. (AX: BLD ) added 9.97% or 0.640 points to end at 7.060 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX: BAL ) was up 6.92% or 0.770 points to 11.900 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (AX: RWC ), which lost 6.17% or 0.355 points to trade at 5.395 in late trade. Speedcast International Ltd (AX: SDA ) declined 5.24% or 0.220 points to end at 3.980 and Infigen Energy (AX: IFN ) shed 5.22% or 0.035 points to 0.635.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 651 to 557 and 396 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 4.19% to 10.772.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.40% or 4.90 to $1209.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.09% or 0.06 to hit $68.47 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.07 to trade at $76.22 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.40% to 0.7308, while AUD/JPY fell 0.42% to 81.24.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 94.73.