Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Utilities and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.50%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD), which rose 16.00% or 0.400 points to trade at 2.900 at the close. Meanwhile, Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN) added 6.06% or 0.010 points to end at 0.175 and M Pharma Fp (ASX:MYX) was up 5.58% or 0.055 points to 1.040 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which fell 17.25% or 0.345 points to trade at 1.655 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) declined 7.76% or 0.045 points to end at 0.535 and AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) was down 7.63% or 0.050 points to 0.605.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 512 to 427 and 150 ended unchanged.
Shares in Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG) fell to 52-week lows; falling 17.25% or 0.345 to 1.655. Shares in Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) fell to 5-year lows; down 7.76% or 0.045 to 0.535. Shares in AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) fell to 5-year lows; falling 7.63% or 0.050 to 0.605.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.23% to 25.842.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.34% or 3.70 to $1107.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $44.63 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.34% or 0.17 to trade at $48.88 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7090, while AUD/JPY fell 0.26% to 85.28.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.25% at 95.14.