Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.26%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO), which rose 10.87% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.255 at the close. Meanwhile, Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) added 7.63% or 0.050 points to end at 0.705 and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) was up 7.32% or 0.180 points to 2.640 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX:LYC), which fell 5.56% or 0.004 points to trade at 0.068 at the close. Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE) declined 4.26% or 0.070 points to end at 1.575 and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) was down 3.52% or 0.065 points to 1.780.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 327 to 233 and 32 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.17% to 14.467.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.86% or 10.20 to $1196.40 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.95% or 1.02 to hit $51.66 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 1.67% or 0.94 to trade at $55.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.51% to 0.8050, while AUD/JPY fell 0.57% to 96.94.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.43% at 91.87.