Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Utilities and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.21%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF), which rose 10.20% or 0.55 points to trade at 5.94 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 4.80% or 1.040 points to end at 22.700 and Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) was up 4.36% or 1.48 points to 35.39 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which fell 6.82% or 0.090 points to trade at 1.230 at the close. Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL) declined 4.64% or 3.50 points to end at 72.00 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was down 4.12% or 0.44 points to 10.25.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 753 to 600 and 391 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.37% to 12.248.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.11% or 1.95 to $1775.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 1.00% or 0.62 to hit $61.52 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 1.01% or 0.66 to trade at $64.76 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7774, while AUD/JPY rose 0.24% to 83.79.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 90.790.