Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the decline was 1.23%.
The best performers of the session were Nanosound technique Ltd (ASX: ), which was up 5.47% or 0.17 points to trade at 3.28 at the close. Meanwhile, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:) added 3.70% or 0.08 points to end at 2.24 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:) was up 2.78% or 0.04 points to 1.48 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Premier Investments Ltd (ASX: ), which fell 15.92% or 5.26 points to trade at 27.78 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX: ) declined 10.71% or 0.03 points to end at 0.25 and Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:) was down 9.94% or 3.02 points to 27.36.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing stocks on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 738 to 331, with 466 ending unchanged.
Shares in Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:) rose to an all-time high; up 3.70% or 0.08 to 2.24.
The index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, rose 10.13% to 12.28, a new one-month high.
Gold futures for February delivery fell 0.12% or 3.18 to $2,711.82 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude for March delivery rose 1.72% or 1.30 to $77.05 a barrel, while Brent crude for March delivery rose 1.87% or 1.49 to $81.25 per barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.21% at 0.61, while AUD/JPY fell 0.38% to 96.53.
US dollar index futures rose 0.24% to 109.75.
