Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Real Estate Investment, Telecoms Services and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.03% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 6.67% or 1.000 points to trade at 16.000 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) added 4.17% or 0.048 points to end at 1.188 and Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) was up 3.33% or 0.090 points to 2.790 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA), which lost 5.16% or 0.230 points to trade at 4.230 in late trade. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) declined 4.34% or 0.115 points to end at 2.535 and Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL) shed 4.00% or 0.160 points to 3.840.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 643 to 558 and 362 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.33% to 13.980.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 2.90 to $1197.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.53% or 0.36 to hit $68.11 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.45 to trade at $77.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7115, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 78.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 95.40.