Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 4.09% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.820 at the close. Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) added 3.55% or 0.065 points to end at 1.895 and Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) was up 3.55% or 0.150 points to 4.380 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which lost 3.70% or 4.770 points to trade at 124.160 in late trade. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) declined 2.60% or 0.340 points to end at 12.750 and APN News & Media Ltd (AX:APN) shed 2.55% or 0.090 points to 3.440.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 480 to 427 and 333 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 21.09% to 11.863.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.70% or 9.15 to $1319.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.70% or 0.74 to hit $44.36 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 0.72 to trade at $46.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.72% to 0.7543, while AUD/JPY rose 0.46% to 76.97.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 95.79.