Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.19%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.19% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX: BSL ), which rose 6.45% or 0.710 points to trade at 11.720 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR ) added 5.70% or 0.360 points to end at 6.680 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX: NAN ) was up 5.66% or 0.300 points to 5.600 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS ), which lost 8.40% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.545 in late trade. Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX: LNK ) declined 5.27% or 0.300 points to end at 5.390 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL ) shed 4.72% or 0.230 points to 4.640.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 753 to 527 and 374 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 up 0.02% to 13.232.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.19% or 2.55 to $1348.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.37% or 0.20 to hit $54.31 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.20 to trade at $62.34 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.6875, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 74.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 97.143.