Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.95%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which rose 8.91% or 0.123 points to trade at 1.498 at the close. Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) added 7.45% or 0.210 points to end at 3.030 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 5.36% or 0.120 points to 2.360 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX:REG), which lost 16.44% or 0.730 points to trade at 3.710 in late trade. Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) declined 15.44% or 0.315 points to end at 1.725 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) shed 12.70% or 0.400 points to 2.750.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 658 to 438 and 306 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 4.63% to 13.510.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.07% or 0.95 to $1329.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.25% or 0.11 to hit $44.26 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.23% or 0.11 to trade at $46.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7601, while AUD/JPY fell 0.25% to 78.55.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 95.62.