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

The added 0.8% was at its highest point for a 1-month after the Sydney close.

The best performers of the session on the were Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:), which rose 3.12% or 0.86 points to trade at 28.45 at the close. Meanwhile, Austal Ltd (ASX) – Added 2.78%, or 0.05 points, to finish at 1.85 Unibail Rodamco Westfield Late trade saw an ASX increase of 2.68%, or 0.12 point to 4.60

These were the worst performers of the session. Xero Ltd (ASX:), fell 5.16% or 5.39 point to trade at 99.03 by the close. Polynovo Ltd. (ASX) fell 4.50%, or 0.05 points, to close at 1.06 Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX): The ASX was 0.08 point lower at 1.62, or 4.42%.

The Sydney Stock Exchange saw falling stocks surpass advancing stock by 876, 575 and 360 respectively.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.39% to 13.52.

For April delivery, gold futures fell 1.04% (20.40) to $1,933.80 an troy ounce. In commodities trading, crude oil fell 4.52 percent to $109.38 per barrel in May. The June Brent oil contract dropped 3.54% to $113.21 per barrel.

The AUD/USD exchange rate was stable at 0.25 to 0.75 while the AUD/JPY traded up 1.63% to 93.1.

US Dollar Index Futures were up 0.4% at 99.23