Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.59%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.59%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which rose 9.38% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.58 at the close. Meanwhile, Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC) added 8.82% or 0.24 points to end at 2.96 and United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) was up 8.64% or 0.38 points to 4.78 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA), which fell 6.23% or 0.50 points to trade at 7.53 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) declined 4.19% or 0.08 points to end at 1.72 and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) was down 2.94% or 2.35 points to 77.46.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 851 to 485 and 359 ended unchanged.

Shares in Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 8.82% or 0.24 to 2.96. Shares in United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) rose to 3-years highs; gaining 8.64% or 0.38 to 4.78.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.79% to 11.30.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.45% or 8.65 to $1,920.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.23% or 0.16 to hit $70.48 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.17% or 0.13 to trade at $75.28 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.27% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 96.25.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.28% at 102.88.