Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.70%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.70% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA), which rose 16.60% or 0.22 points to trade at 1.51 at the close. Meanwhile, Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) added 7.14% or 1.00 points to end at 15.01 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 6.69% or 0.45 points to 7.18 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which fell 4.28% or 0.19 points to trade at 4.25 at the close. Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC) declined 2.62% or 0.07 points to end at 2.60 and Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) was down 2.62% or 0.23 points to 8.56.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 830 to 583 and 375 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.05% to 12.97 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.04% or 20.25 to $1,919.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.23% or 0.24 to hit $105.72 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.01% or 0.01 to trade at $109.48 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.26% to 0.75, while AUD/JPY fell 0.02% to 92.76.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 98.97.