Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.84%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Graincorp Ltd (AX:GNC), which rose 26.71% or 1.950 points to trade at 9.250 at the close. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) added 12.02% or 0.880 points to end at 8.200 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) was up 11.49% or 1.290 points to 12.520 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 7.88% or 0.350 points to trade at 4.090 in late trade. Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) declined 5.05% or 0.140 points to end at 2.630 and Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) shed 3.10% or 0.045 points to 1.405.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 769 to 417 and 316 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 14.09% to 14.832.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.51% or 6.20 to $1232.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 5.30% or 2.70 to hit $53.63 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 4.93% or 2.93 to trade at $62.39 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.83% to 0.7367, while AUD/JPY rose 0.77% to 83.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.43% at 96.778.