Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 2.22% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL), which rose 6.25% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.210 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 5.43% or 0.120 points to end at 2.330 and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) was up 3.88% or 0.045 points to 1.205 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Slater & Gordon Ltd (ASX:SGH), which lost 25.00% or 1.260 points to trade at 3.780 in late trade. Sandfire Resources NL (ASX:SFR) declined 6.28% or 0.380 points to end at 5.670 and Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG) shed 5.83% or 0.240 points to 3.880.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 844 to 279 and 207 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 16.88% to 20.241 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.64% or 7.50 to $1180.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.49% or 0.89 to hit $58.74 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.30% or 0.82 to trade at $62.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7660, while AUD/JPY fell 0.80% to 94.10.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 95.89.