Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.11%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the IT , Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.11% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX: NCM ), which rose 3.19% or 0.810 points to trade at 26.200 at the close. Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX: SPK ) added 2.88% or 0.100 points to end at 3.570 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX: SAR ) was up 2.54% or 0.070 points to 2.830 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ), which lost 12.75% or 0.095 points to trade at 0.650 in late trade. Altium Ltd (AX: ALU ) declined 8.40% or 2.940 points to end at 32.070 and New Hope Corporation Ltd (AX: NHC ) shed 6.77% or 0.220 points to 3.030.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 810 to 341 and 338 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 18.36% to 13.376 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.28% or 3.75 to $1322.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.71% or 0.42 to hit $58.62 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.33 to trade at $66.42 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.00% to 0.7083, while AUD/JPY rose 0.10% to 77.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 96.113.