Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Metals & Mining and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which rose 16.52% or 1.150 points to trade at 8.110 at the close. Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) added 7.55% or 0.320 points to end at 4.560 and Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL) was up 3.31% or 0.130 points to 4.060 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which lost 6.65% or 0.175 points to trade at 2.455 in late trade. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) declined 5.84% or 0.640 points to end at 10.320 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) shed 4.35% or 0.055 points to 1.210.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 667 to 550 and 386 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 1.42% to 11.589.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.03% or 0.40 to $1206.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.30% or 0.21 to hit $69.59 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.26% or 0.20 to trade at $77.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7198, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 79.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 95.03.