Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the IT, Healthcare and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 2.27% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL), which rose 5.45% or 0.230 points to trade at 4.450 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) added 3.01% or 0.190 points to end at 6.510 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 2.68% or 0.220 points to 8.420 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG), which lost 10.91% or 0.180 points to trade at 1.470 in late trade. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) declined 9.92% or 0.065 points to end at 0.590 and Adelaide Brighton Ltd (AX:ABC) shed 8.37% or 0.390 points to 4.270.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 947 to 235 and 323 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 19.44% to 19.984 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.17% or 2.15 to $1254.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.15% or 0.08 to hit $52.53 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.58% or 0.36 to trade at $62.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7219, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 81.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 96.390.