Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, IT and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.73% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR), which rose 7.84% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) added 5.41% or 0.11 points to end at 2.05 and Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) was up 4.93% or 0.04 points to 0.75 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 4.40% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.52 at the close. Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) declined 3.91% or 0.32 points to end at 7.86 and Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) was down 3.82% or 0.34 points to 8.56.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 704 to 561 and 372 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.56% to 10.23.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.85% or 17.70 to $2,107.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.59% or 0.44 to hit $73.63 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.66% or 0.52 to trade at $78.36 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.24% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 97.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 103.27.