Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, A-REITs and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.08%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Broadspectrum Ltd (AX:BRS), which rose 47.65% or 0.405 points to trade at 1.255 at the close. Meanwhile, Investa Office Fund (AX:IOF) added 7.31% or 0.280 points to end at 4.110 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 5.37% or 0.065 points to 1.275 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Spotless Fp (AX:SPO), which fell 13.77% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.065 at the close. Arrium Ltd (AX:ARI) declined 11.43% or 0.008 points to end at 0.062 and Santos Ltd (AX:STO) was down 9.93% or 0.420 points to 3.810.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 503 to 498 and 124 ended unchanged.
Shares in Spotless Fp (AX:SPO) fell to all time lows; losing 13.77% or 0.170 to 1.065. Shares in Arrium Ltd (AX:ARI) fell to all time lows; losing 11.43% or 0.008 to 0.062. Shares in Santos Ltd (AX:STO) fell to 5-year lows; falling 9.93% or 0.420 to 3.810.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.31% to 18.277.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.04% or 0.40 to $1084.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.89% or 0.35 to hit $39.62 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.04% or 0.45 to trade at $42.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7333, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 90.41.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.14% at 98.41.