Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 7.00%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX:MYX), which rose 26.92% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.330 at the close. Meanwhile, Ansell Ltd (ASX:ANN) added 25.08% or 5.82 points to end at 29.03 and Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) was up 17.11% or 0.580 points to 3.970 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN), which fell 7.02% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.530 at the close. NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) declined 4.90% or 0.06 points to end at 1.17 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) was down 3.66% or 0.70 points to 18.40.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 712 to 456 and 246 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.52% to 41.938.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.80% or 13.25 to $1640.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.63% or 0.78 to hit $20.73 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 3.94% or 1.10 to trade at $26.85 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.36% to 0.6143, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 66.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.38% at 98.915.