Australia Stock Market Update

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.32%.

Best Performers

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 included:
– St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM): rose 5.68% or 0.01 points to trade at 0.23.
– Appen Ltd (ASX:APX): added 5.49% or 0.14 points to end at 2.69.
– Atlas Arteria (ASX:ALX): up 2.77% or 0.13 points to 4.83 in late trade.

Worst Performers

The worst performers of the session were:
– Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW): fell 5.00% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.38.
– Growthpoint Properties Australia (ASX:GOZ): declined 4.71% or 0.12 points to end at 2.43.
– Region Re Ltd Unit (ASX:RGN): down 3.88% or 0.09 points to 2.11.

Market Overview

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 542 to 458, with 363 ending unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.09% to 11.12.

Commodities Trading

• Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.07% or 1.90 to $2,633.80 a troy ounce.
• Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $70.62 a barrel.
• The March Brent oil contract rose 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $73.81 a barrel.

Currency Update

• AUD/USD was unchanged at 0.44% to 0.62.
• AUD/JPY rose 0.50% to 98.54.
• The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged at 0.00% at 107.79.