Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Financials, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.33%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Drillsearch Energy Ltd (ASX:DLS), which rose 3.11% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.160 at the close. Meanwhile, Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) added 3.00% or 0.035 points to end at 1.200 and Greencross Ltd (ASX:GXL) was up 2.79% or 0.190 points to 7.000 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP), which fell 7.26% or 2.360 points to trade at 30.130 at the close. Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) declined 5.80% or 0.020 points to end at 0.325 and Covermore Fpo (ASX:CVO) was down 5.71% or 0.140 points to 2.310.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 547 to 433 and 193 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 13.24% to 18.590.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.27% or 3.30 to $1228.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.10% or 0.67 to hit $61.20 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.55 to trade at $67.36 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.29% to 0.8015, while AUD/JPY fell 0.03% to 95.87.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.24% at 93.51.