Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.18% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which rose 6.91% or 0.250 points to trade at 3.870 at the close. TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) added 4.80% or 0.330 points to end at 7.200 and Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) was up 4.62% or 0.060 points to 1.360 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM), which lost 16.07% or 1.760 points to trade at 9.190 in late trade. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) declined 5.28% or 0.850 points to end at 15.250 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) shed 2.92% or 0.140 points to 4.660.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 586 to 526 and 352 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 3.82% to 12.727.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.14% or 1.75 to $1280.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.22% or 0.12 to hit $54.16 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.10 to trade at $62.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7169, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 78.55.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.930.