Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.39%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Energy , Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.39%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX: AHG ), which rose 8.56% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.775 at the close. GWA Group Ltd (AX: GWA ) added 4.38% or 0.140 points to end at 3.340 and Ansell Ltd (AX: ANN ) was up 4.09% or 0.990 points to 25.210 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bingo Industries Ltd (AX: BIN ), which lost 49.13% or 1.130 points to trade at 1.170 in late trade. Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (AX: SIQ ) declined 9.18% or 0.900 points to end at 8.900 and Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX: BOQ ) shed 6.33% or 0.630 points to 9.320.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 599 to 535 and 367 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 0.03% to 12.735.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.28% or 3.75 to $1325.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.57% or 0.32 to hit $56.30 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.22 to trade at $66.47 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.10% to 0.7146, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 79.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 96.645.