Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.06%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Staples and Industrials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.06%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Inghams Group Ltd (ASX:ING), which rose 11.68% or 0.32 points to trade at 3.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) added 7.58% or 0.08 points to end at 1.13 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 3.71% or 0.07 points to 1.81 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF), which fell 11.59% or 0.92 points to trade at 7.02 at the close. Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL) declined 9.99% or 1.98 points to end at 17.84 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) was down 8.59% or 0.61 points to 6.49.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 769 to 503 and 399 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.61% to 12.96.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.22% or 4.15 to $1,854.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.81% or 0.62 to hit $77.17 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.83% or 0.69 to trade at $83.69 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.41% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY rose 0.31% to 92.57.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 103.71.