Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.63%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Virgin Money UK PLC (ASX:VUK), which rose 8.75% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.100 at the close. Meanwhile, Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) added 8.75% or 0.230 points to end at 2.860 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (ASX:SAR) was up 7.45% or 0.210 points to 3.030 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN), which fell 18.90% or 0.395 points to trade at 1.695 at the close. Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (ASX:SIQ) declined 15.21% or 1.360 points to end at 7.580 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was down 2.67% or 0.030 points to 1.095.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 697 to 493 and 315 ended unchanged.
Shares in Virgin Money UK PLC (ASX:VUK) rose to 52-week highs; up 8.75% or 0.330 to 4.100.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.09% to 11.491.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.06% or 0.95 to $1482.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.23% or 0.14 to hit $59.84 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.13 to trade at $65.09 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.6873, while AUD/JPY fell 0.16% to 75.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 96.590.