Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Energy, Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN), which rose 7.32% or 0.015 points to trade at 0.220 at the close. Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) added 6.35% or 5.050 points to end at 84.570 and Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (ASX:MMS) was up 4.42% or 0.520 points to 12.290 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which lost 7.85% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.115 in late trade. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) declined 4.96% or 0.090 points to end at 1.725 and Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG) shed 4.63% or 0.180 points to 3.710.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 486 to 428 and 181 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 0.86% to 21.073.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.21% or 2.40 to $1160.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.37% or 0.72 to hit $52.02 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.65% or 0.97 to trade at $58.02 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7460, while AUD/JPY rose 0.43% to 91.74.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.16% at 95.81.