Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.68%

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 gained 0.68% to hit a new 6-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ), which rose 8.18% or 0.090 points to trade at 1.190 at the close. Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX: DHG ) added 8.18% or 0.220 points to end at 2.910 and Webjet Ltd (AX: WEB ) was up 4.30% or 0.630 points to 15.270 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (AX: SIQ ), which lost 8.28% or 0.670 points to trade at 7.420 in late trade. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX: SIG ) declined 4.55% or 0.025 points to end at 0.525 and Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX: SPK ) shed 3.87% or 0.140 points to 3.480.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 604 to 528 and 366 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 0.12% to 11.318.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.17% or 2.15 to $1297.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.42% or 0.26 to hit $62.84 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.39 to trade at $69.76 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.53% to 0.7107, while AUD/JPY rose 0.59% to 79.17.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 96.727.