Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.58%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS), which rose 5.10% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.825 at the close. Meanwhile, Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 3.43% or 0.080 points to end at 2.410 and Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) was up 2.90% or 0.100 points to 3.550 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT), which fell 9.98% or 5.110 points to trade at 46.080 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 5.33% or 0.090 points to end at 1.600 and Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) was down 4.95% or 0.870 points to 16.690.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 703 to 442 and 345 ended unchanged.
Shares in Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 2.90% or 0.100 to 3.550.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.26% to 16.987.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.08% or 1.00 to $1229.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.36% or 0.25 to hit $69.53 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.19 to trade at $79.97 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7108, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 80.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 95.43.