Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.70% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX), which rose 44.23% or 2.340 points to trade at 7.630 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) added 12.20% or 0.125 points to end at 1.150 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) was up 8.33% or 0.055 points to 0.715 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which lost 7.02% or 0.200 points to trade at 2.650 in late trade. Aurizon Holdings Ltd (AX:AZJ) declined 5.91% or 0.320 points to end at 5.090 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) shed 2.33% or 0.090 points to 3.770.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 695 to 548 and 357 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 0.52% to 11.073.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1257.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.14% or 0.08 to hit $57.41 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.15 to trade at $63.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7657, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 86.26.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 93.42.