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The local market followed in the footsteps of Wall Street on Friday, with the ASX200 closing the first trading session of the week down 1.4% as every sector ended the day in negative territory, led by a sharp sell-off in energy stocks. The energy sector was weighed down by declining oil prices over the last week.

Embattled casino giant Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGM) entered a trading halt today after the New South Wales casino regulator slapped the company’s Sydney casino with a record $100 million fine and suspended its licence for compliance failures. Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) shares dipped today after Morgan Stanley reported La Nina weather events present a 5% to 10% production risk to 2023 financial year guidance for mines operating on Australia’s east coast and in South-East Asia. Four of Whitehaven Coal’s mines are located in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales, while a number of its other sites are near the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland. Lithium stocks were pushed higher today by the price of lithium carbonate soaring to an all-time high on Friday of 532,000 yuan per tonne, or $118,596.09 AUD. Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) added 5.63%, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) jumped 5.5% and Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) rallied 1.74% today.

The winning stocks for today’s session were, Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) amid the rising price of lithium carbonate, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) came in as the second top stock of the session and News Corporation (ASX:NWS) rounded out the top the winning stocks for Monday, adding 3.63%. And the stocks investors sold-off today included Adbri (ASX:ABC), which tanked 22% after the company announced a leadership transition regarding the CEO Nick Miller leaving his role as CEO and as a director, as well as a trading update outlining external headwinds set to impact the company’s underlying NPAT for the full year ending December 31. Investors also sharply sold out of Costa Group (ASX:CGC) shares today, with its share price sinking 13% after the company also released a trading update outlining increased costs related to adverse weather conditions. St Barbara (ASX:SBM) rounded out the bottom three performing stocks today, with its share price falling 8.22% to close the session.

The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were Hawsons Iron (ASX:HIO), Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) and the BetaShares Strong Bear Hedge Fund (ASX:BBUS).

Investors will be awaiting the release of the RBA’s meeting minutes out tomorrow to give an indication of future rate hike moves by the country’s central bank.

The Australian dollar is buying 62.18 US cents, 55.09 British Pence, 92.76 Japanese Yen, and 1 dollar 12 cents New Zealand.