Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Healthcare, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.80%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Duet Group (AX:DUE), which rose 15.74% or 0.370 points to trade at 2.720 at the close. Meanwhile, Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) added 6.54% or 0.105 points to end at 1.710 and Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) was up 3.94% or 0.075 points to 1.980 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which fell 6.84% or 0.033 points to trade at 0.443 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 5.57% or 0.250 points to end at 4.240 and Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB) was down 5.48% or 0.560 points to 9.660.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 657 to 353 and 317 ended unchanged.
Shares in Duet Group (AX:DUE) rose to 5-year highs; rising 15.74% or 0.370 to 2.720.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.42% to 13.356.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.08% or 0.95 to $1178.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.74% or 0.38 to hit $51.30 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.38 to trade at $54.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.15% to 0.7446, while AUD/JPY fell 0.13% to 84.53.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.67% at 101.43.