Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.69%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which rose 34.06% or 0.235 points to trade at 0.925 at the close. Meanwhile, Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) added 12.12% or 0.160 points to end at 1.480 and Arrium Ltd (AX:ARI) was up 6.76% or 0.005 points to 0.079 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH), which fell 57.58% or 0.380 points to trade at 0.280 at the close. ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) declined 17.94% or 0.811 points to end at 3.710 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was down 10.76% or 0.135 points to 1.120.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 544 to 447 and 136 ended unchanged.
Shares in Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH) fell to all time lows; falling 57.58% or 0.380 to 0.280.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.47% to 17.313.
Gold for February delivery was down 1.50% or 16.00 to $1053.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.18% or 0.07 to hit $41.63 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.22 to trade at $44.66 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7189, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 88.31.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.18% at 100.23.