Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Healthcare, A-REITs and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.87%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC), which rose 6.44% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.150 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) added 4.14% or 0.595 points to end at 14.975 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) was up 2.60% or 0.023 points to 0.887 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF), which fell 11.89% or 1.000 points to trade at 7.410 at the close. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) declined 4.89% or 0.460 points to end at 8.950 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) was down 3.73% or 0.445 points to 11.495.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 694 to 539 and 343 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) fell to 52-week lows; down 11.89% or 1.000 to 7.410. Shares in Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.14% or 0.595 to 14.975.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 9.70% to 13.138.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.03% or 0.40 to $1230.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.26% or 0.18 to hit $68.08 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.18% or 0.13 to trade at $72.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7423, while AUD/JPY fell 0.37% to 82.39.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 94.14.