Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.02%

© Reuters. Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.02%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.02%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which rose 4.72% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.555 at the close. Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC) added 4.59% or 0.07 points to end at 1.48 and Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) was up 4.53% or 0.210 points to 4.850 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL), which lost 5.34% or 0.650 points to trade at 11.530 in late trade. Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) declined 3.72% or 0.055 points to end at 1.425 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) shed 3.59% or 0.160 points to 4.300.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 538 to 504 and 354 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 4.37% to 15.507.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.19% or 2.45 to $1291.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.18% or 0.61 to hit $50.98 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 1.07% or 0.65 to trade at $59.83 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.42% to 0.7185, while AUD/JPY fell 0.63% to 77.67.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 95.155.