Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Energy and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.37% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 9.49% or 0.280 points to trade at 3.230 at the close. Meanwhile, Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) added 6.61% or 0.040 points to end at 0.645 and Spotless Fp (AX:SPO) was up 6.56% or 0.080 points to 1.300 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which fell 11.87% or 0.470 points to trade at 3.490 at the close. Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) declined 8.70% or 0.030 points to end at 0.315 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was down 7.42% or 0.125 points to 1.560.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 484 to 454 and 275 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.16% to 16.833 a new 1-month low.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.42% or 5.30 to $1254.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.88% or 0.34 to hit $38.16 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.37% or 0.15 to trade at $40.24 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.36% to 0.7537, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 85.80.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.09% at 96.31.