Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.14%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.14% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR), which rose 9.38% or 0.18 points to trade at 2.04 at the close. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 6.21% or 2.09 points to end at 35.72 and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) was up 6.19% or 0.30 points to 5.15 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which fell 6.27% or 0.42 points to trade at 6.28 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) declined 5.25% or 0.92 points to end at 16.59 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was down 5.75% or 0.03 points to 0.41.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 627 to 501 and 432 ended unchanged.

Shares in Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) rose to all time highs; rising 9.38% or 0.18 to 2.04.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.47% to 10.64.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.25% or 33.49 to $2,647.51 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.47% or 0.32 to hit $68.32 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.32 to trade at $72.16 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.23% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.43% to 97.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 106.30.