Australian shares prices edged higher on Monday, as Financials, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher. At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.21%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD), which rose 11.00% or 1.32 points to trade at 13.32 at the close. Meanwhile, Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) added 6.56% or 0.28 points to end at 4.55 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 6.25% or 0.02 points to 0.34 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which fell 12.70% or 0.31 points to trade at 2.13 at the close. Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) declined 4.17% or 0.05 points to end at 1.15 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was down 4.04% or 0.15 points to 3.56.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 701 to 698 and 368 ended unchanged.

Shares in Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD) rose to 5-year highs; rising 11.00% or 1.32 to 13.32.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.85% to 19.22.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.30% or 6.05 to $1,978.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 3.39% or 3.71 to hit $105.62 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.20% or 3.61 to trade at $109.06 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.64% to 0.72, while AUD/JPY fell 0.26% to 85.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 99.06.

(Source)