Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Industrials, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.77% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Altium Ltd (AX:ALU), which rose 3.51% or 0.270 points to trade at 7.970 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) added 3.23% or 0.070 points to end at 2.240 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) was up 2.27% or 0.080 points to 3.600 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Brambles Ltd (AX:BXB), which lost 15.80% or 1.940 points to trade at 10.340 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 7.31% or 0.190 points to end at 2.410 and Nine Ent Fpo (AX:NEC) shed 4.67% or 0.050 points to 1.020.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 628 to 421 and 308 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 4.23% to 13.943 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.83% or 10.05 to $1214.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.17% or 0.09 to hit $53.13 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.07 to trade at $55.42 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7566, while AUD/JPY fell 0.55% to 86.02.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.37% at 100.40.