Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.74%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Resources , Energy and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.74%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ), which rose 7.35% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.265 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) added 5.14% or 0.640 points to end at 13.090 and Altium Ltd (AX: ALU ) was up 4.63% or 0.380 points to 8.590 in late trade.

Biggest losers included APN Outdoor Group Ltd (AX: APO ), which lost 5.39% or 0.270 points to trade at 4.740 in late trade. Asaleo Care (AX: AHY ) declined 3.36% or 0.050 points to end at 1.440 and Virtus Health Ltd (AX: VRT ) shed 2.98% or 0.180 points to 5.870.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 600 to 499 and 364 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 0.24% to 13.082.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.03% or 0.33 to $1253.27 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.87% or 0.44 to hit $51.11 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.44 to trade at $54.05 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.23% to 0.7444, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 83.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 97.15.