Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Australian Real Estate Investment Trust and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.31%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE), which rose 4.92% or 0.060 points to trade at 1.280 at the close. Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) added 2.45% or 0.020 points to end at 0.835 and Steadfast F (ASX:SDF) was up 1.62% or 0.03 points to 1.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which lost 10.00% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.260 in late trade. Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) declined 9.68% or 0.105 points to end at 0.980 and Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN) shed 9.50% or 0.210 points to 2.000.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 392 to 129 and 29 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 10.52% to 15.080.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.47% or 5.50 to $1169.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 0.38% or 0.19 to hit $49.42 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.76% or 0.46 to trade at $59.36 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.38% to 0.7693, while AUD/JPY fell 0.25% to 93.00.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 97.72.