Aus shares close 0.01 per cent lower

The ASX200 has maintained in the negative territory during the afternoon session. On the bright side, Consumer Staples and Health Care lead the charge throughout the day finishing as the two best performing sectors of Mondays trade.

Endeavour Group Limited (ASX:EDV) reached 5.33 per cent higher at $6.42 followed by the momentum of Woolworths (ASX:WOW) edging 2.85 per cent higher in the last hour of trade.

Information Technology was the worst performing sector of the day followed by Financials and Industrials. Afterpay continued on a downwards trend in the afternoon, dropping by 7.22 per cent.

On the banking front NAB (ASX:NAB), ANZ (ASX:ANZ) and Westpac (ASX:WBC) remained in the red throughout the day, except Commonwealth (ASX:CBA) edging 4.7 per cent higher in the last hour of trade. Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) also dropped by near 4.02 per cent.

NSW residents brace themselves for the two weeks ahead, amid the Covid lockdown.

At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.01 per cent or 0.70 points lower at 7307.30.

Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 37.00 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 4.50 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 17.25 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 8 points when the market next opens.

Best and worst performers sectors 

The best-performing sector was Consumer Staples, up 1.48 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Information Technology, down 2.81 per cent.

The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Redbubble (ASX:RBL), closing 8.16 per cent higher at $3.71. It was followed by shares in Kogan.Com (ASX:KGN) and Endeavour (ASX:EDV).

The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Afterpay (ASX:APT), closing 7.52 per cent lower at $119.30. It was followed by shares in Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR) and Zip Co (ASX:Z1P).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has lost 0.11 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.15 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 0.27 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1783.25 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.40 per cent higher at US$216.45 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.49 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.03 lower at US$70.71 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.88 US cents.