Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.15%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which rose 7.01% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.365 at the close. Meanwhile, Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) added 6.35% or 0.330 points to end at 5.530 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 5.56% or 0.200 points to 3.800 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT), which fell 6.13% or 0.710 points to trade at 10.880 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIP) declined 6.04% or 0.080 points to end at 1.245 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) was down 5.67% or 0.220 points to 3.660.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 565 to 484 and 296 ended unchanged.
Shares in Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.67% or 0.220 to 3.660.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.89% to 12.982.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.19% or 2.25 to $1210.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.34% or 0.62 to hit $46.98 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.34% or 0.63 to trade at $47.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.7328, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 81.41.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 101.36.