Australia’s stock market witnessed a downturn at the close of trading on Monday, marked by losses in the IT, Gold, and Telecom sectors, which contributed to the overall decline in shares.
Closing in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 index fell by 0.46%.
Among the top performers on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC), which saw a rise of 6.00% or 0.09 points, closing at 1.59. Similarly, South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) recorded a gain of 4.86% or 0.16 points, ending at 3.45, while Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) experienced an increase of 4.65% or 0.04 points, reaching 0.90 in late trade.
Conversely, the session’s worst performers included Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which experienced a decline of 8.70% or 0.07 points, closing at 0.74. Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) also saw a decrease of 6.87% or 0.13 points, ending at 1.70, while Nextdc Ltd (ASX:NXT) dropped by 4.32% or 0.71 points, closing at 15.81.
On the Sydney Stock Exchange, declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a margin of 825 to 380, with 416 remaining unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, experienced an increase of 6.03%, reaching 11.36.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery saw a slight increase of 0.02%, reaching $2,374.50 a troy ounce. Crude oil for delivery in May experienced a decline of 0.51%, reaching $85.22 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract also fell by 0.45%, closing at $90.04 a barrel.
The AUD/USD pair remained unchanged at 0.65, while the AUD/JPY pair rose by 0.91%, reaching 99.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures saw a decrease of 0.14%, reaching 105.68.