Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Energy, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.37%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT), which rose 4.50% or 1.400 points to trade at 32.530 at the close. Meanwhile, Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE) added 3.82% or 0.130 points to end at 3.530 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 3.27% or 0.760 points to 24.000 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Virgin Money UK PLC (ASX:VUK), which fell 3.70% or 0.130 points to trade at 3.380 at the close. Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI) declined 3.48% or 0.170 points to end at 4.710 and Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) was down 3.23% or 0.020 points to 0.600.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 599 to 527 and 348 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.33% to 11.556.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.30% or 4.75 to $1555.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.20% or 0.12 to hit $59.16 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.10 to trade at $65.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.25% to 0.6918, while AUD/JPY rose 0.48% to 75.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.00% at 97.075.
