Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.28%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.28%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 11.76% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.38 at the close. Meanwhile, Iress Ltd (ASX:IRE) added 8.64% or 0.45 points to end at 5.66 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 5.63% or 0.10 points to 1.88 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 3.17% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.84 at the close. Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) declined 3.10% or 0.78 points to end at 24.35 and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) was down 3.05% or 0.22 points to 6.99.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 635 to 602 and 367 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.70% to 12.68.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.43% or 8.55 to $1,990.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.65% or 0.52 to hit $81.03 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.43 to trade at $85.32 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.08% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 97.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 104.88.