Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.30% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were APN News & Media Ltd (ASX:APN), which rose 6.52% or 0.045 points to trade at 0.735 at the close. Meanwhile, Sandfire Resources NL (ASX:SFR) added 4.92% or 0.310 points to end at 6.610 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL) was up 4.22% or 0.140 points to 3.460 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which fell 14.54% or 0.165 points to trade at 0.970 at the close. Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) declined 10.08% or 1.330 points to end at 11.870 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was down 9.61% or 0.220 points to 2.070.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 551 to 440 and 164 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.31% to 14.406 a new 3-months low.
Gold for August delivery was down 1.38% or 15.60 to $1116.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $51.16 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.12 to trade at $56.98 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.25% to 0.7390, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 91.73.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 98.01.