Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.08%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold , Healthcare and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ausdrill Ltd (AX: ASL ), which rose 3.78% or 0.065 points to trade at 1.785 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX: PLS ) added 3.69% or 0.033 points to end at 0.912 and Metcash Ltd (AX: MTS ) was up 3.42% or 0.100 points to 3.020 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX: LYC ), which lost 18.10% or 0.380 points to trade at 1.720 in late trade. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) declined 11.66% or 1.560 points to end at 11.820 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) shed 10.03% or 0.390 points to 3.500.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 570 to 570 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 0.29% to 11.164.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.13% or 1.60 to $1199.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.81% or 1.28 to hit $72.06 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.81% or 1.42 to trade at $79.66 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.41% to 0.7261, while AUD/JPY fell 0.32% to 81.77.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 93.91.