Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.58% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB), which rose 4.07% or 0.045 points to trade at 1.150 at the close. Oil Search Ltd (AX:OSH) added 3.87% or 0.270 points to end at 7.250 and Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) was up 3.56% or 0.115 points to 3.345 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which lost 6.04% or 0.600 points to trade at 9.330 in late trade. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) declined 5.41% or 0.360 points to end at 6.300 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) shed 3.93% or 0.360 points to 8.790.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 670 to 434 and 296 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 1.94% to 15.424.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.17% or 2.25 to $1329.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $46.67 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.40% or 0.19 to trade at $47.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.25% to 0.7598, while AUD/JPY rose 0.82% to 80.12.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.23% at 96.48.