Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Financials, Real Estate Investment and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.23% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 6.89% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.63 at the close. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) added 4.55% or 0.025 points to end at 0.575 and HT&E Ltd (AX:HT1) was up 3.75% or 0.065 points to 1.800 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG), which lost 17.17% or 0.570 points to trade at 2.750 in late trade. Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) declined 9.72% or 0.070 points to end at 0.650 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) shed 6.71% or 0.050 points to 0.695.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 757 to 524 and 348 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 3.92% to 12.025.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.14% or 1.80 to $1331.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.16% or 0.10 to hit $63.41 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.16 to trade at $68.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.10% to 0.7990, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 88.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 90.44.