Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Energy and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were M2 Telecommunications Group Ltd (ASX:MTU), which rose 13.42% or 1.130 points to trade at 9.550 at the close. Meanwhile, Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) added 8.57% or 0.015 points to end at 0.190 and Virtus Health Ltd (ASX:VRT) was up 6.72% or 0.360 points to 5.720 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Vocus Fpo (ASX:VOC), which fell 7.40% or 0.480 points to trade at 6.010 at the close. Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) declined 2.52% or 0.070 points to end at 2.710 and Cabcharge Australia Ltd (ASX:CAB) was down 2.30% or 0.070 points to 2.980.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 577 to 372 and 152 ended unchanged.
Shares in Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) fell to 52-week lows; down 2.52% or 0.070 to 2.710.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.61% to 24.346.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.79% or 9.10 to $1136.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 1.15% or 0.53 to hit $45.17 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 1.04% or 0.51 to trade at $48.09 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.7023, while AUD/JPY fell 0.33% to 84.44.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 96.49.