Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.31%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC), which rose 3.73% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.69 at the close. Meanwhile, Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB) added 3.57% or 0.07 points to end at 2.03 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) was up 2.44% or 0.01 points to 0.21 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX: RSG), which fell 4.30% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.44 at the close. Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX: PRU) declined 3.39% or 0.07 points to end at 1.85 and Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX: SLR) was down 2.86% or 0.04 points to 1.19.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 8 to 1 and 13 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.18% to 11.23 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.56% or 11.70 to $2,071.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.61% or 0.44 to hit $71.33 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.08 to trade at $77.07 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.01% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY fell 0.22% to 96.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 101.06.
