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 gained 0.04% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX), which rose 15.89% or 0.340 points to trade at 2.480 at the close. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) added 5.18% or 0.860 points to end at 17.470 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) was up 4.55% or 0.058 points to 1.323 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN), which lost 8.02% or 2.230 points to trade at 25.580 in late trade. Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) declined 5.23% or 0.098 points to end at 1.768 and Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) shed 4.03% or 0.360 points to 8.570.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 693 to 538 and 386 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 0.50% to 11.965.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.72% or 8.50 to $1192.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.35% or 0.23 to hit $64.98 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.18 to trade at $71.65 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.15% to 0.7306, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 80.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 96.09.