Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.40% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 12.00% or 1.060 points to trade at 9.890 at the close. Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN) added 8.92% or 0.145 points to end at 1.770 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was up 6.69% or 0.400 points to 6.380 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which lost 5.56% or 0.200 points to trade at 3.400 in late trade. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 4.80% or 0.080 points to end at 1.585 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) shed 4.11% or 0.180 points to 4.200.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 605 to 567 and 332 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 3.60% to 11.755.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.31% or 4.05 to $1295.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.36% or 0.20 to hit $56.00 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.21 to trade at $65.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7089, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 79.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 96.377.