Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Utilities, Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which rose 3.59% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.460 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) added 3.24% or 0.023 points to end at 0.718 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 3.02% or 0.105 points to 3.585 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which lost 10.34% or 0.060 points to trade at 0.520 in late trade. Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT) declined 5.19% or 2.310 points to end at 42.170 and Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB) shed 5.08% or 0.550 points to 10.270.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 626 to 565 and 380 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 1.02% to 12.855.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.09% or 1.20 to $1346.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.83% or 0.56 to hit $66.83 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.95% or 0.69 to trade at $71.89 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7771, while AUD/JPY fell 0.06% to 83.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 89.48.