Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.09%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG), which rose 4.90% or 2.12 points to trade at 45.39 at the close. Meanwhile, Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) added 4.35% or 1.10 points to end at 26.40 and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was up 4.26% or 0.15 points to 3.67 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were GWA Group Ltd (ASX:GWA), which fell 7.64% or 0.23 points to trade at 2.78 at the close. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) declined 4.49% or 5.09 points to end at 108.33 and AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) was down 4.42% or 0.67 points to 14.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 722 to 620 and 326 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.45% to 13.532 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.14% or 2.40 to $1722.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.88% or 0.58 to hit $66.19 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.84% or 0.58 to trade at $69.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.30% to 0.7739, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 84.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 91.812.