Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.38%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Energy, A-REITs and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.38% to hit a new 3-months low.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 15.79% or 0.09 points to trade at 0.66 at the close. Meanwhile, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) added 10.96% or 0.17 points to end at 1.67 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 10.29% or 0.04 points to 0.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which fell 7.08% or 0.08 points to trade at 1.05 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) declined 7.06% or 0.45 points to end at 5.92 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) was down 6.67% or 0.03 points to 0.42.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 947 to 385 and 306 ended unchanged.

Shares in Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) rose to 52-week highs; rising 10.29% or 0.04 to 0.38.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 13.76% to 16.89 a new 3-months high.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 2.00% or 39.45 to $2,012.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.79% or 1.87 to hit $65.06 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.73% or 1.99 to trade at $70.98 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.79% to 87.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 103.46.