Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the A-REITs, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.25%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN), which rose 18.15% or 3.570 points to trade at 23.240 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) added 12.38% or 0.200 points to end at 1.815 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) was up 9.86% or 2.700 points to 30.080 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Aurizon Holdings Ltd (AX:AZJ), which fell 6.20% or 0.310 points to trade at 4.690 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) declined 5.90% or 0.340 points to end at 5.420 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was down 4.28% or 0.125 points to 2.795.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 569 to 494 and 366 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN) rose to 52-week highs; rising 18.15% or 3.570 to 23.240. Shares in JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) rose to all time highs; rising 9.86% or 2.700 to 30.080.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.61% to 12.612.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.11% or 1.45 to $1344.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.90% or 0.40 to hit $44.89 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.34 to trade at $47.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.16% to 0.7658, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 77.55.
The US Dollar Index was unchanged 0.00% at 95.68.