Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.43%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.43% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which rose 19.69% or 0.38 points to trade at 2.31 at the close. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 12.18% or 4.14 points to end at 38.12 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was up 9.38% or 0.03 points to 0.35 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH), which fell 8.39% or 9.87 points to trade at 107.83 at the close. AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) declined 7.20% or 0.14 points to end at 1.74 and Iress Ltd (ASX:IRE) was down 7.23% or 0.68 points to 8.72.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 612 to 553 and 454 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.56% to 10.89.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.83% or 63.78 to $3,427.52 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.03% or 0.66 to hit $63.22 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.89% or 0.59 to trade at $66.00 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 96.29.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 97.93.