The Australian share market has closed higher on Wednesday, with strong performances out of the materials, financials, and healthcare sectors, all up by over 1 percent for the day.

At the market close, the primary S&P/ASX200 index was up 44.47 points, or 0.78 percent, to sit at 5,776.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 43.93 points higher, or 0.76 percent, to end at 5,823.3 points.

A number of sectors fared well on the local bourse on Wednesday, with financials up 1.11 percent, materials were 1.22 percent higher, while healthcare also gained a solid 1.37 percent.

There were some big individual gains during the course of trade, Sigma Healthcare racked up a huge 9.88 percent gain, Mitula Group recovered from a huge 45 percent loss yesterday, to claw back 13.64 percent, while OZ Minerals posted a healthy 10.45 percent rise.

There were some losers in the action, with Blackham resources dropping 10.26 percent, Ramelius Resources lost 4.71 percent, while Dominos Pizza took a hefty 5.17 percent hit.

In the banking sector, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.63 percent, Westpac also did well, up 0.77 percent, the ANZ were 0.90 percent higher, while the National Australia Bank were up 0.79 percent.

The miners had a great day of gains, with BHP up 3.30 percent, Rio Tinto were up 2.62 percent, Fortescue were 4.74 percent higher, while Newcrest stood alone with a 1.75 percent loss.

In oil and gas, Woodside gained 2.34 percent, Santos were a whopping 5.28 percent higher, while Oil Search gained 3.23 percent.

Grocery giant Woolworths finished up 0.76 percent, while rivals Wesfarmers were 1.07 percent higher.

Telco giant Telstra were solid with a 0.24 percent gain, while airline Qantas were 1.50 percent higher.

At 1630 local time (AEST), one Australian dollar was buying 78.84 U.S. cents, while crude oil was trading at 48.35 U.S. dollars per barrel.