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 added 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA), which rose 11.40% or 0.310 points to trade at 3.030 at the close. Infigen Energy (AX:IFN) added 9.92% or 0.060 points to end at 0.665 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 7.11% or 0.090 points to 1.355 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC), which lost 7.50% or 1.160 points to trade at 14.300 in late trade. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (AX:WPL) declined 6.85% or 2.105 points to end at 28.630 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) shed 5.45% or 0.030 points to 0.520.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 708 to 531 and 344 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 10.11% to 15.501.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.42% or 5.70 to $1350.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.83% or 0.51 to hit $62.06 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.37 to trade at $65.21 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.27% to 0.7926, while AUD/JPY rose 0.58% to 84.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 89.04.