Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the IT, Industrials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.75% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST), which rose 3.64% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.280 at the close. Meanwhile, Shopping Centres Australasia Group (ASX:SCP) added 3.38% or 0.070 points to end at 2.140 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) was up 3.16% or 0.013 points to 0.407 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI), which fell 11.76% or 0.020 points to trade at 0.150 at the close. UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) declined 6.44% or 0.105 points to end at 1.525 and Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) was down 6.07% or 0.230 points to 3.560.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 587 to 382 and 202 ended unchanged.
Shares in Shopping Centres Australasia Group (ASX:SCP) rose to all time highs; gaining 3.38% or 0.070 to 2.140.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 10.17% to 16.306 a new 1-month high.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.10% or 1.20 to $1204.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.30% or 0.74 to hit $58.06 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.64% or 0.41 to trade at $64.11 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.34% to 0.7814, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 92.70.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 97.74.