Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Financials, Consumer Staples and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.48%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which rose 7.34% or 0.340 points to trade at 4.970 at the close. Meanwhile, Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) added 6.22% or 0.120 points to end at 2.050 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 6.12% or 0.030 points to 0.520 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Breville Group Ltd (AX:BRG), which fell 5.09% or 0.380 points to trade at 7.090 at the close. Cimic Group Ltd (AX:CIM) declined 3.66% or 0.890 points to end at 23.410 and Ten Network Holdings Ltd (AX:TEN) was down 2.94% or 0.005 points to 0.165.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 543 to 485 and 121 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 7.29% to 17.499.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.83% or 8.80 to $1069.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.61% or 0.59 to hit $37.63 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.88% or 0.33 to trade at $37.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 1.10% to 0.7208, while AUD/JPY fell 1.76% to 86.08.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.25% at 98.53.