Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.15%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.15%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sandfire Resources NL (AX: SFR ), which rose 5.50% or 0.380 points to trade at 7.290 at the close. Independence Group NL (AX: IGO ) added 5.04% or 0.240 points to end at 5.000 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX: FMG ) was up 4.30% or 0.210 points to 5.090 in late trade.

Biggest losers included CYBG PLC (AX: CYB ), which lost 2.41% or 0.140 points to trade at 5.680 in late trade. Bega Cheese Ltd (AX: BGA ) declined 2.07% or 0.150 points to end at 7.080 and Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX: TWE ) shed 1.94% or 0.310 points to 15.650.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 686 to 582 and 324 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 2.46% to 10.430.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.02% or 0.30 to $1315.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $60.39 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $66.58 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.13% to 0.7820, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 87.82.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 91.59.