Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.94% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Austal Ltd (AX:ASB), which rose 11.54% or 0.135 points to trade at 1.305 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) added 8.57% or 0.120 points to end at 1.520 and Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (AX:CCL) was up 5.67% or 0.520 points to 9.690 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which lost 17.68% or 0.870 points to trade at 4.050 in late trade. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 9.43% or 0.225 points to end at 2.160 and Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) shed 5.88% or 0.140 points to 2.240.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 723 to 400 and 297 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 up 1.75% to 13.303.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.32% or 4.25 to $1321.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.39% or 0.66 to hit $46.98 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 1.24% or 0.62 to trade at $49.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.7552, while AUD/JPY rose 0.35% to 77.25.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 95.46.