Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.22%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Financials, Energy and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.22% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which rose 5.09% or 0.09 points to trade at 1.76 at the close. Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL) added 3.37% or 0.13 points to end at 3.99 and NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) was up 3.19% or 0.20 points to 6.46 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which lost 6.74% or 0.21 points to trade at 2.84 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) declined 5.88% or 0.02 points to end at 0.24 and Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) shed 5.51% or 12.07 points to 206.93.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 623 to 523 and 416 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 0.28% to 10.97.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.21% or 5.35 to $2,532.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.60% or 0.44 to hit $73.11 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.54 to trade at $76.39 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.32% to 99.14.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 101.59.