Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.10%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.10%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which rose 9.28% or 0.31 points to trade at 3.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Adelaide Brighton Ltd (ASX:ABC) added 8.82% or 0.240 points to end at 2.960 and Bingo Industries Ltd (ASX:BIN) was up 7.20% or 0.170 points to 2.530 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM), which fell 5.51% or 0.22 points to trade at 3.77 at the close. Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) declined 4.37% or 0.100 points to end at 2.190 and Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:SXL) was down 4.26% or 0.010 points to 0.225.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 698 to 516 and 319 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.34% to 22.541.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.27% or 4.75 to $1756.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.03% or 0.01 to hit $35.48 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.04 to trade at $37.80 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 1.24% to 0.6748, while AUD/JPY rose 1.30% to 72.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 97.957.