Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.32%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL), which rose 7.80% or 0.39 points to trade at 5.39 at the close. Meanwhile, Adbri Ltd (ASX:ABC) added 7.17% or 0.200 points to end at 2.990 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was up 4.29% or 0.120 points to 2.920 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU), which fell 5.06% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.500 at the close. South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) declined 3.11% or 0.130 points to end at 4.050 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was down 3.03% or 0.25 points to 7.99.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 755 to 660 and 394 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.98% to 13.531.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.27% or 4.95 to $1821.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.67% or 0.56 to hit $83.86 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.49 to trade at $86.55 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7215, while AUD/JPY rose 0.33% to 82.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.095.