Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 8.33% or 0.055 points to trade at 0.715 at the close. News Corp B (AX:NWS) added 7.64% or 1.260 points to end at 17.760 and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) was up 5.94% or 0.048 points to 0.848 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orica Ltd (AX:ORI), which lost 13.03% or 2.010 points to trade at 13.420 in late trade. Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) declined 6.73% or 0.290 points to end at 4.020 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) shed 4.04% or 0.120 points to 2.850.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 586 to 462 and 316 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 2.21% to 17.840.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.92% or 11.90 to $1282.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.81% or 0.81 to hit $45.47 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.30% or 0.59 to trade at $45.96 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7372, while AUD/JPY rose 0.42% to 79.30.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.10% at 93.92.