Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Energy, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.84%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which rose 18.64% or 0.110 points to trade at 0.700 at the close. Meanwhile, Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) added 11.67% or 0.070 points to end at 0.670 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 10.81% or 0.040 points to 0.410 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX:TWE), which fell 5.17% or 0.480 points to trade at 8.800 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) declined 4.90% or 0.250 points to end at 4.850 and OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) was down 4.22% or 0.170 points to 3.860.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 654 to 316 and 155 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.42% to 20.760.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.48% or 5.30 to $1101.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.85% or 0.28 to hit $32.47 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.91% or 0.30 to trade at $33.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7018, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 83.34.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.09% at 99.51.