Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.18%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Utilities and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.18%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were South32 Ltd (ASX:S32), which rose 6.20% or 0.22 points to trade at 3.77 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 5.76% or 1.93 points to end at 35.46 and Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) was up 4.00% or 0.02 points to 0.52 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which lost 6.91% or 0.19 points to trade at 2.56 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 5.59% or 0.02 points to end at 0.38 and Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM) shed 3.51% or 0.04 points to 1.10.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 561 to 548 and 473 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 3.30% to 10.97.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.85% or 21.80 to $2,591.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.18% or 0.12 to hit $67.04 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.25% or 0.18 to trade at $71.22 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.23% to 100.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 106.65.