Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Financials, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.33%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Drillsearch Energy Ltd (ASX:DLS), which rose 3.11% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.160 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) added 3.00% or 0.035 points to end at 1.200 and Greencross Ltd (ASX:GXL) was up 2.79% or 0.190 points to 7.000 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP), which lost 7.26% or 2.360 points to trade at 30.130 in late trade. Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) declined 5.80% or 0.020 points to end at 0.325 and Covermore Fpo (ASX:CVO) shed 5.71% or 0.140 points to 2.310.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 547 to 433 and 193 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 up 13.24% to 18.590.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.26% or 3.20 to $1228.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.10% or 0.67 to hit $61.20 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.81% or 0.54 to trade at $67.35 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.29% to 0.8014, while AUD/JPY fell 0.03% to 95.86.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.25% at 93.52.