Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.18%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary , Consumer Staples and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.18% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX: PGH ), which rose 6.91% or 0.250 points to trade at 3.870 at the close. TPG Telecom Ltd (AX: TPM ) added 4.80% or 0.330 points to end at 7.200 and Ausdrill Ltd (AX: ASL ) was up 4.62% or 0.060 points to 1.360 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ), which lost 16.07% or 1.760 points to trade at 9.190 in late trade. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX: APT ) declined 5.28% or 0.850 points to end at 15.250 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) shed 2.92% or 0.140 points to 4.660.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 586 to 526 and 352 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 up 3.82% to 12.727.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.14% or 1.75 to $1280.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.22% or 0.12 to hit $54.16 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.16% or 0.10 to trade at $62.80 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7169, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 78.55.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.930.