Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the A-REITs, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 5.62% to hit a new 5-year low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cimic Group Ltd (ASX:CIM), which rose 6.87% or 1.35 points to trade at 21.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) added 6.32% or 1.37 points to end at 23.04 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was up 4.91% or 0.72 points to 15.37 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP), which fell 36.42% or 3.58 points to trade at 6.25 at the close. Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) declined 32.65% or 0.080 points to end at 0.165 and Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) was down 28.89% or 0.195 points to 0.480.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1243 to 107 and 171 ended unchanged.
Shares in Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) fell to 5-year lows; losing 36.42% or 3.58 to 6.25. Shares in Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) fell to all time lows; falling 32.65% or 0.080 to 0.165. Shares in Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) fell to 3-years lows; down 28.89% or 0.195 to 0.480.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 17.09% to 36.719.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.42% or 6.30 to $1490.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.53% or 0.12 to hit $22.75 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.78% or 0.75 to trade at $26.23 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.24% to 0.5784, while AUD/JPY fell 1.04% to 63.54.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.61% at 102.870.