The local share market has dropped to a two-week low after finishing back under the key resistance level of 7,000.
After a fairly quiet morning, losses for S&P/ASX200 accelerated on Monday afternoon as US futures pointed to a weak open on Wall Street, with Australia's benchmark index closing down 53.2 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 6,987.6.
The broader All Ordinaries dropped 51.3 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 7,192.8.
A warning from Beijing that it would tighten supervision of iron ore pricing and crack down on "illegal activities" also worked to dull sentiment and send the heavyweight mining sector down 1.1 per cent.
BHP dropped 1.5 per cent to $46.52, Fortescue fell 2.1 per cent to $24.51 and Rio Tinto lost 1.3 per cent to $125.19.
IGO fell 3.3 per cent to $8.45 after the nickel and lithium producer reconfirmed that former Rio Tinto executive Ivan Vella would be its next CEO, effective next month, despite controversy regarding his mishandling of confidential Rio documents as he prepared to leave.
After a review, IGO found that no confidential information was compromised, Mr Vella accepted responsibility for the policy breach and the board continues to have confidence in his character, integrity and professionalism, chairman Michael Nossal said.
Gold miners were mostly up as the precious metal climbed to a six-month high of $US2,010 an ounce.
Northern Star climbed 1.7 per cent and Evolution added 1.9 per cent, but Newmont dipped 0.3 per cent.
Three of the four big retails banks finished lower, with ANZ and Westpac the biggest losers. Both fell 1.1 per cent, to $24.13 and $21.10, respectively, while CBA was close behind, dropping 1.0 per cent to $102.61.
NAB was the outlier, adding 0.2 per cent to $28.02.
QBE grew 2.2 per cent to $15.64 as the insurer said gross written premiums climbed seven per cent in the third quarter.
In health care, Healius rose 2.3 per cent to $1.33 after chairwoman Jenny Macdonald announced she would step down and retire at Tuesday's annual general meeting, rather than seek re-election as previously planned.
Ms Macdonald said she thought it was important for the pathology chain to have a chair who had the full support of shareholders.
Healius last week was forced by its lenders into holding a $187 million capital raising at a one-third discount, sending its shares to a decades low.
Adore Beauty Group soared 19.3 per cent to $1.115 after the cosmetics e-commerce retailer confirmed that it had rebuffed a $122 million takeover offer from UK-based e-commerce business THG.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Monday finished 53.2 points lower at 6,987.6, a drop of 0.76 per cent.
* The broader All Ordinaries closed down 51.3 points, or 0.71 per cent, at 7,192.8
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 65.81 US cents, from 65.64 US cents at Friday's ASX close
* 98.09 Japanese yen, from 98.03 Japanese yen
* 60.08 Euro cents, from 60.20 Euro cents
* 52.14 British pence, from 52.36 pence
* 108.41 NZ cents, from 108.39 NZ cents.
