Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.04%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 4.09% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.820 at the close. Meanwhile, Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) added 3.55% or 0.065 points to end at 1.895 and Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) was up 3.55% or 0.150 points to 4.380 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which fell 3.70% or 4.770 points to trade at 124.160 at the close. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) declined 2.60% or 0.340 points to end at 12.750 and APN News & Media Ltd (AX:APN) was down 2.55% or 0.090 points to 3.440.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 480 to 427 and 333 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 21.09% to 11.863.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.71% or 9.35 to $1319.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.70% or 0.74 to hit $44.36 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 0.72 to trade at $46.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.72% to 0.7543, while AUD/JPY rose 0.46% to 76.97.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 95.79.