Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.03% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX), which rose 15.89% or 0.340 points to trade at 2.480 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) added 5.18% or 0.860 points to end at 17.470 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) was up 4.55% or 0.058 points to 1.323 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN), which fell 8.05% or 2.240 points to trade at 25.570 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) declined 5.23% or 0.098 points to end at 1.768 and Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) was down 4.03% or 0.360 points to 8.570.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 692 to 537 and 388 ended unchanged.
Shares in Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) rose to all time highs; gaining 5.18% or 0.860 to 17.470.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.49% to 11.966.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.70% or 8.30 to $1192.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.28% or 0.18 to hit $65.03 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.14 to trade at $71.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.7305, while AUD/JPY fell 0.06% to 80.80.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 96.12.