Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the IT, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.97%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Smartgroup Corporation Ltd (ASX:SIQ), which rose 21.68% or 1.960 points to trade at 11.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) added 10.80% or 0.195 points to end at 2.000 and Lend Lease Group (ASX:LLC) was up 9.53% or 1.290 points to 14.830 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL), which fell 8.36% or 1.020 points to trade at 11.180 at the close. oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:OML) declined 7.85% or 0.230 points to end at 2.700 and NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) was down 6.29% or 0.480 points to 7.150.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 701 to 461 and 383 ended unchanged.
Shares in oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:OML) fell to 3-years lows; losing 7.85% or 0.230 to 2.700.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.32% to 17.378.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.27% or 4.05 to $1519.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.22% or 0.67 to hit $55.48 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.43% or 0.84 to trade at $59.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.04% to 0.6783, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 72.15.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 98.042.