Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Downer Edi Ltd (AX:DOW), which rose 5.05% or 0.340 points to trade at 7.070 at the close. BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) added 4.62% or 0.480 points to end at 10.860 and Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) was up 4.03% or 0.600 points to 15.490 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which lost 3.36% or 0.090 points to trade at 2.590 in late trade. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) declined 3.29% or 0.180 points to end at 5.290 and Chorus Ltd (AX:CNU) shed 2.96% or 0.110 points to 3.600.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 634 to 623 and 336 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 1.04% to 11.218.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.21% or 2.68 to $1289.98 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.47% or 0.28 to hit $58.67 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.34 to trade at $63.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.17% to 0.7603, while AUD/JPY fell 0.29% to 84.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 92.73.