Shares of gold miners extended losses after gold prices settled at their lowest since mid-December on Friday. Hopes of fiscal support, along with prospects for a smooth transition of power in Washington, have taken the shine off safe-haven assets such as gold. Evolution Mining lost more than 5% and Newcrest Mining was lower by more than 4%.
Lenders were mixed. In the banking sector, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking were lower in a range of 0.2% to 0.3%, while Westpac edged up 0.1%.
Miners were mixed. Among the major miners, Rio Tinto fell more than 1% and Fortescue Metals was lower by 0.3%, while BHP Group added 0.2%.
Energy stocks jumped, with oil prices near a one-year high after Saudi Arabia's pledge last week to cut output. Among oil stocks, Woodside Petroleum added 3%, meanwhile Santos rose almost 4% and Oil Search rose more than 1%.
In economic news, Australia Retail Sales Up 7.1% On Month In November- Australia retail sales was up a seasonally adjusted 7.1% on month in November, coming in at A$31.654 billion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, following the 1.4% gain in October. Individually, food retailing was down 0.3% on month, while household goods retailing jumped 12.7%, clothing sales spiked 26.7%, department store sales jumped 21.1%, other retailing gained 7.9% and restaurant retailing was up 6.7%. On a yearly basis, the value of sales rose 13.3%.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7707 following levels above $0.78 seen last week.
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