Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.12%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and IT sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.12%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN), which rose 22.88% or 1.40 points to trade at 7.52 at the close. Meanwhile, Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) added 7.35% or 0.08 points to end at 1.10 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was up 6.61% or 0.06 points to 0.93 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which fell 13.10% or 0.41 points to trade at 2.72 at the close. TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX:TPG) declined 8.21% or 0.44 points to end at 4.92 and Iress Ltd (ASX:IRE) was down 6.14% or 0.49 points to 7.49.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 624 to 571 and 324 ended unchanged.

Shares in Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 22.88% or 1.40 to 7.52. Shares in Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) fell to 5-year lows; losing 13.10% or 0.41 to 2.72. Shares in Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 6.61% or 0.06 to 0.93.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.28% to 11.24.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.32% or 6.60 to $2,042.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.47% or 0.36 to hit $76.13 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.42% or 0.34 to trade at $80.46 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 98.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 103.90.