Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.55%

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 added 0.55%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (AX: BPT ), which rose 6.45% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.320 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX: SIG ) added 5.00% or 0.045 points to end at 0.945 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX: MIN ) was up 3.70% or 0.630 points to 17.680 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX: NCM ), which lost 4.40% or 0.950 points to trade at 20.640 in late trade. APN Outdoor Group Ltd (AX: APO ) declined 3.81% or 0.170 points to end at 4.290 and Iluka Resources Ltd (AX: ILU ) shed 3.70% or 0.420 points to 10.940.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 685 to 521 and 379 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 1.71% to 13.286.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.02% or 0.20 to $1323.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.06% or 0.04 to hit $62.08 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.06 to trade at $65.55 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.32% to 0.7873, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 83.91.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 89.99.