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 0.48%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which rose 7.14% or 0.210 points to trade at 3.150 at the close. Duet Group (AX:DUE) added 5.78% or 0.160 points to end at 2.930 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) was up 5.48% or 0.230 points to 4.430 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY), which lost 3.02% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.850 in late trade. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) declined 2.67% or 0.080 points to end at 2.920 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) shed 2.64% or 0.110 points to 4.050.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 582 to 503 and 326 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 up 0.97% to 12.785.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.63% or 7.55 to $1203.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.25% or 0.13 to hit $52.50 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.29% or 0.16 to trade at $55.61 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.32% to 0.7476, while AUD/JPY fell 0.76% to 85.25.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.28% at 101.45.