They said mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dropped following a sell-off Friday of their London-listed shares in response, in part, to falling copper prices.
The key S and P/ASX 200 index ended the day down 7.1 points at 4,357.2 while the broader All Ordinaries lost 7.9 points to 4,317.3. A total of 918.9 million shares worth 3.51 billion dollars (2.6 billion US) were traded during the day with falls beating rises 551 to 422 and some 337 stocks closing unchanged.
Trading was volatile, with the sell-off gaining momentum in the afternoon, dealers said.
Newcrest Mining dropped 0.47 to 17.01, Lihir Gold gained 0.055 to 1.63 and Oxiana added 0.03 to 1.25. Woodside Petroleum added 0.10 to 29.98, Oil Search gained 0.02 to 3.15 and Santos shed 0.05 to 11.02.
ANZ Banking Group was 0.17 higher to close at 23.62 ahead of the bank's full-year profit report to be released Tuesday.
However, the National Australia Bank, the country's largest lender, fell early on concerns interest rates could rise, before closing slightly higher. National Australia Bank added 0.15 to close at 32.15. Westpac Bank slipped 0.09 to 20.41 while Commonwealth Bank gained 0.16 to 38.05.
News Corp lost 0.26 to 1.26 and Telstra was 0.04 higher at 4.14. National airline Qantas gained 0.03 to 3.38 but Virgin Blue fell 0.065 to 1.47.