Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which rose 3.63% or 0.310 points to trade at 8.860 at the close. Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) added 3.04% or 0.100 points to end at 3.390 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) was up 2.91% or 0.130 points to 4.600 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX), which lost 12.94% or 2.200 points to trade at 14.800 in late trade. OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) declined 4.58% or 0.340 points to end at 7.090 and Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) shed 3.83% or 0.080 points to 2.010.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 533 to 520 and 371 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 down 4.59% to 13.281.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.21% or 15.61 to $1273.49 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.48% or 0.24 to hit $49.86 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.30 to trade at $52.74 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7559, while AUD/JPY rose 1.23% to 83.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.71% at 98.95.