Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which rose 19.81% or 0.630 points to trade at 3.810 at the close. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) added 6.06% or 0.020 points to end at 0.350 and OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) was up 5.51% or 0.350 points to 6.700 in late trade.
Biggest losers included APN News & Media Ltd (AX:APN), which lost 14.64% or 0.457 points to trade at 2.665 in late trade. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) declined 5.92% or 0.350 points to end at 5.560 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) shed 5.56% or 0.145 points to 2.465.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 560 to 515 and 310 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 6.46% to 15.789 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.09% or 1.15 to $1277.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.37% or 0.18 to hit $48.52 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.39% or 0.20 to trade at $50.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7614, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 79.77.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.09% at 98.40.