Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Energy, Gold and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.37% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 8.01% or 0.135 points to trade at 1.820 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 7.64% or 0.230 points to end at 3.240 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 5.54% or 0.095 points to 1.810 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Rea Group Ltd (AX:REA), which lost 3.92% or 2.560 points to trade at 62.710 in late trade. Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) declined 3.00% or 0.040 points to end at 1.295 and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) shed 2.38% or 0.025 points to 1.025.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 682 to 473 and 324 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.70% to 14.297.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.22% or 2.95 to $1354.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.58% or 0.24 to hit $41.84 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.27 to trade at $43.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7608, while AUD/JPY rose 0.48% to 77.93.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 95.59.