Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE), which rose 6.67% or 0.075 points to trade at 1.200 at the close. Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) added 4.47% or 0.490 points to end at 11.440 and Flexigroup Ltd (ASX:FXL) was up 4.35% or 0.110 points to 2.640 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL), which lost 3.70% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.910 in late trade. Ozforex Grp (ASX:OFX) declined 3.65% or 0.100 points to end at 2.640 and Transpacific Industries Group Ltd (ASX:TPI) shed 3.65% or 0.025 points to 0.660.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 488 to 472 and 170 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 2.57% to 19.302.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.57% or 6.30 to $1119.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.06% or 0.46 to hit $42.66 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.96% or 0.47 to trade at $48.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.7377, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 91.78.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 96.67.