Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the S&P/ASX All Ord Gold, S&P/ASX 200 Utilities and S&P/ASX 200 Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.66% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which rose 11.11% or 0.100 points to trade at 1.000 at the close. Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX:BDR) added 7.02% or 0.020 points to end at 0.305 and Medusa Mining Ltd (ASX:MML) was up 6.06% or 0.050 points to 0.875 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Kathmandu Holdings Ltd (ASX:KMD), which lost 27.54% or 0.515 points to trade at 1.355 in late trade. NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) declined 5.26% or 0.015 points to end at 0.270 and Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) shed 5.21% or 0.055 points to 1.000.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 284 to 282 and 43 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 3.72% to 14.866.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1280.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 2.81% or 1.35 to hit $46.88 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract fell 1.55% or 0.81 to trade at $51.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7782, while AUD/JPY rose 0.42% to 91.59.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 95.00.