Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.08%

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

At the close in Sydney, the rose 0.08%.

The best performers of the session on the were Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:), which rose 14.69% or 0.52 points to trade at 4.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:) added 6.14% or 0.17 points to end at 2.94 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:) was up 3.32% or 0.07 points to 2.18 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:), which fell 3.79% or 0.12 points to trade at 3.05 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) declined 4.08% or 0.01 points to end at 0.24 and Megaport Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.52% or 0.26 points to 7.13.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 615 to 460 and 462 ended unchanged.

Shares in Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:) rose to 3-years highs; rising 14.69% or 0.52 to 4.06. Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; rising 6.14% or 0.17 to 2.94.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.08% to 11.02.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.39% or 10.29 to $2,644.41 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.46% or 0.34 to hit $73.62 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.34 to trade at $76.17 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.29% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY rose 0.60% to 98.30.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 108.70.