Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the IT, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.99% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA), which rose 3.73% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.890 at the close. Santos Ltd (AX:STO) added 2.90% or 0.200 points to end at 7.090 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) was up 2.81% or 0.330 points to 12.080 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which lost 6.64% or 0.980 points to trade at 13.770 in late trade. Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG) declined 4.69% or 0.130 points to end at 2.640 and Rea Group Ltd (AX:REA) shed 4.17% or 3.150 points to 72.350.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 759 to 443 and 348 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 0.77% to 20.213.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.28% or 3.40 to $1225.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.77% or 0.55 to hit $71.89 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.04% or 0.84 to trade at $81.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.10% to 0.7107, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 79.54.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 94.97.