The sharemarket fell for the fifth straight session on Monday as fresh economic data from China provided a gloomy outlook for Australian miners.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.6 per cent, or 46.5 points, at 8249.5 points. Shares have now fallen more than 2 per cent in the last five sessions. Iron ore prices over the weekend slipped after the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Economic Work Conference failed to provide hard-figure stimulus measures as the market had hoped.

Sentiment towards China weakened further after the regional giant released a gloomy set of figures for November retail sales and house prices on Monday. Retail sales increased just 3 per cent, undercutting market expectations for a 5 per cent rise and proving to be the “big disappointment of the month”, according to ING chief China economist Lynn Song.

“Retail sales … came in well softer than both consensus and our forecasts,” she said. “Household confidence clearly remains soft, and it remains to be seen if the ‘vigorous support’ for consumption promised next year will be effective in stimulating a recovery. We expect the rollout of supportive policies could take some time.”

Miners were the biggest drag on the index, falling 2 per cent. BHP slipped 2 per cent to $40.21 and Fortescue fell 4.2 per cent to $18.66. Iron ore futures in Singapore settled near $US104 per tonne after slipping more than 1 per cent over the weekend.

The weaker outlook for China also hit lithium and gold miners. WA lithium hopeful Liontown Resources fell 7.5 per cent to 55¢, while gold miner West African Resources edged 5.3 per cent lower to $1.52.

Energy stocks also dragged the ASX lower, weighed by uranium stocks. Boss Energy tumbled 8.1 per cent to $2.40 and Paladin Energy fell 4.2 per cent to $7.62. Coal stocks were also hit with Coronado Global Resources sinking 5.7 per cent to 82.5¢ and Yancoal falling 1.6 per cent to $6.35.

Stocks on the move

Recent ASX debutant and data centre play DigiCo fell 5.5 per cent to $4.30 in its second session. The stock is now down more than 15 per cent from its $5 offer price.

Bell Potter’s Richard Coppleson said the $2 billion REIT had been a “huge disappointment” for investors. “It offered retail investors rare exposure to AI-fuelled data centres and was the year’s biggest IPO … Stock was apparently shunned by [institutional investors] and so the book was loaded up with retail investors,” he said in a note to investors.

Major DigiCo investor HMC Capital sank 13.7 per cent to $9.73.

Morgan Stanley downgraded copper miner Sandfire Resources to “underweight”, sending the stock 3.3 per cent lower to $9.63.

Star Entertainment bounced 5.1 per cent higher at 20.5¢ after Mark Mackay, the company’s second Gold Coast chief executive in seven months, resigned late last week.