Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished higher on Monday.
Here's a quick recap of the Aussie market:
- S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 0.3%
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) up 0.2%
- AUD/USD at US 76.75 cents
- Gold at US$1,271 an ounce, up 0.2%
- Oil at US$53.90 a barrel, up 2.4%
Amongst the best-performing shares during Monday's session was those of oil and gas business Santos Ltd (ASX: STO), which rose 3.7%. Although the company did not release material news to the market, commodity prices rose favourably at the weekend.
Also leading the pack higher were shares of ResMed Inc. (CHESS) (ASX: RMD), James Hardie Industries plc (ASX: JHX) and Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN).
ResMed recently posted a strong first quarter operating performance, with investors warming to the news.
Further down the market and shares of Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC) rose 5.4% while Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) shares leapt 4.4%.
On the other side of the ledger, shares of property businesses Lend Lease (ASX: LLC) and Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD) fell 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively.
Mid-cap companies Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) and Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) lost 4.7% of their value today. According to an ASX filing, a Super Retail director sold 15,825 shares. However, he holds an additional 1.3 million.
Here are today's top stories:
