Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.33%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Utilities , Energy and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Elders Ltd (AX: ELD ), which rose 19.70% or 1.460 points to trade at 8.870 at the close. Healthscope (AX: HSO ) added 13.46% or 0.280 points to end at 2.360 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX: LYC ) was up 9.59% or 0.210 points to 2.400 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX: APT ), which lost 7.34% or 0.990 points to trade at 12.500 in late trade. Lend Lease Group (AX: LLC ) declined 5.85% or 0.830 points to end at 13.360 and Steadfast Group Ltd (AX: SDF ) shed 5.54% or 0.170 points to 2.900.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 606 to 542 and 316 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 down 4.61% to 13.439 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.30 to $1208.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.08% or 0.65 to hit $60.84 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.68% or 1.18 to trade at $71.36 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.17% to 0.7213, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 82.27.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 96.97.