Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Energy and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.37% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 9.49% or 0.280 points to trade at 3.230 at the close. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) added 6.61% or 0.040 points to end at 0.645 and Spotless Fp (AX:SPO) was up 6.56% or 0.080 points to 1.300 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which lost 11.87% or 0.470 points to trade at 3.490 in late trade. Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) declined 8.70% or 0.030 points to end at 0.315 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) shed 7.42% or 0.125 points to 1.560.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 484 to 454 and 275 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 2.16% to 16.833 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.42% or 5.30 to $1254.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.88% or 0.34 to hit $38.16 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.37% or 0.15 to trade at $40.24 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.36% to 0.7537, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 85.81.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 96.30.