Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.18%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.18%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were South32 Ltd (ASX:S32), which rose 6.20% or 0.22 points to trade at 3.77 at the close. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 5.76% or 1.93 points to end at 35.46 and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was up 3.41% or 0.03 points to 0.91 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 6.91% or 0.19 points to trade at 2.56 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 5.59% or 0.02 points to end at 0.38 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was down 3.27% or 0.11 points to 3.25.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 558 to 557 and 444 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.30% to 10.97.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.85% or 21.80 to $2,591.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.18% or 0.12 to hit $67.04 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.17 to trade at $71.21 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 99.98.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 106.65.