Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Financials, A-REITs and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.77%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH), which rose 8.00% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.54 at the close. Meanwhile, Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) added 4.33% or 0.06 points to end at 1.33 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 3.77% or 0.09 points to 2.48 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR), which fell 6.84% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.43 at the close. Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) declined 4.65% or 0.74 points to end at 15.16 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was down 4.26% or 0.01 points to 0.22.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 619 to 571 and 473 ended unchanged.
Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) rose to 52-week highs; rising 8.00% or 0.04 to 0.54.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.54% to 11.36.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.43% or 10.10 to $2,335.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.42% or 0.32 to hit $76.67 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.36 to trade at $80.75 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 104.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 104.60.