Investors are now eyeing the December unemployment report in Australia, due on Thursday, which will likely give direction to the country's central bank for its rate-hike path.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index advanced 60.08 points, or 0.82%, to 7,388.18. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 64.92 points, or 0.86%, to 7,604.99.
All 11 sectors ended higher along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Information technology was the best performing sector, gaining 1.81%, followed by energy (up 1.47%), healthcare (up 1.42%), and industrials (up 1.09%).
The top performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 index were SUPER RETAIL GROUP and MEGAPORT, up 7.68% and 7.46% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 index were CORE LITHIUM and LIONTOWN RESOURCES, down 6.17% and 3.85% respectively.
Technology stocks were among the top gainers on the index, with accounting software company Xero (up 4.6%), software company WiseTech Global (up 4%) and human resources consulting company Seek (up 3.8%) led the upward movement.
Shares of miners jumped, with iron ore behemoths BHP Group and Rio Tinto gaining 0.1% each, while heavyweight Fortescue Metals Group shed 2.1%.
Energy stocks were also higher on tracking overnight gains in oil prices. Woodside Petroleum and Santos added 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Private Sector House Approvals Decline 2.5% In November- The total number of private sector house approvals issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 2.5% on month in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday - coming in at 9,142. Approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses tumbled 22.7% to 4,423 in November, while overall approvals dropped 9.0% to 13,898.
On a yearly basis, dwellings for houses shed 13.4%, approvals for dwellings excluding houses dropped 21% and overall approvals sank 15.1%. The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved fell 1.5% to A$12.388 billion in November, following a 0.4% fall in October.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was stood at 0.6980 against greenback on Monday, depreciated by 0.09% from previous trading day closure at 0.6976 after trading in the range of 0.6967-0.7020.
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