Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.31%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM), which rose 3.93% or 0.330 points to trade at 8.730 at the close. Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) added 3.65% or 0.100 points to end at 2.840 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was up 3.27% or 0.025 points to 0.790 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which lost 17.46% or 0.515 points to trade at 2.435 in late trade. Aveo Group (AX:AOG) declined 6.76% or 0.150 points to end at 2.070 and Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) shed 5.67% or 0.245 points to 4.075.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 581 to 568 and 389 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 5.10% to 12.785.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.06% or 0.70 to $1200.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.12% or 0.08 to hit $68.69 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.07 to trade at $78.02 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.7162, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 80.18.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 94.44.