Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD), which rose 7.56% or 0.110 points to trade at 1.565 at the close. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) added 6.48% or 0.230 points to end at 3.780 and Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) was up 3.60% or 0.050 points to 1.440 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Navitas Ltd (AX:NVT), which lost 15.02% or 0.745 points to trade at 4.215 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 4.95% or 0.070 points to end at 1.345 and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) shed 4.17% or 0.040 points to 0.920.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 586 to 485 and 335 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 3.27% to 12.101.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.54% or 6.65 to $1233.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.43% or 0.23 to hit $53.10 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.20 to trade at $55.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.20% to 0.7578, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 86.28.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 101.47.