Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Telecoms Services and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.48% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT), which rose 3.98% or 1.040 points to trade at 27.180 at the close. Meanwhile, Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) added 3.78% or 0.070 points to end at 1.920 and Vocus Group Ltd (ASX:VOC) was up 3.50% or 0.110 points to 3.250 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP), which fell 6.17% or 1.630 points to trade at 24.800 at the close. G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (ASX:GUD) declined 4.26% or 0.430 points to end at 9.670 and Bingo Industries Ltd (ASX:BIN) was down 3.33% or 0.090 points to 2.610.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 691 to 535 and 387 ended unchanged.
Shares in G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (ASX:GUD) fell to 52-week lows; falling 4.26% or 0.430 to 9.670.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.86% to 11.463.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.05% or 0.75 to $1418.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.27% or 0.15 to hit $56.05 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.31 to trade at $63.06 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.01% to 0.6909, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 75.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 97.768.