Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Utilities, A-REITs and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.98%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM), which rose 6.76% or 0.25 points to trade at 3.95 at the close. Meanwhile, Virgin Money UK PLC (ASX:VUK) added 5.44% or 0.09 points to end at 1.75 and Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) was up 4.86% or 0.52 points to 11.22 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Avita Therapeutics Inc (ASX:AVH), which fell 9.39% or 0.740 points to trade at 7.140 at the close. Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) declined 6.41% or 0.56 points to end at 8.18 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) was down 5.18% or 0.190 points to 3.480.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 609 to 573 and 386 ended unchanged.
Shares in Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.86% or 0.52 to 11.22.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.47% to 17.898 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.45% or 8.15 to $1810.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.79% or 0.32 to hit $40.23 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.69% or 0.30 to trade at $42.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.44% to 0.6978, while AUD/JPY rose 0.34% to 74.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 96.368.