Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.48%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.48%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which rose 5.50% or 0.12 points to trade at 2.30 at the close. Meanwhile, Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) added 5.09% or 0.33 points to end at 6.81 and Orora Ltd (ASX:ORA) was up 4.83% or 0.10 points to 2.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which fell 4.33% or 0.18 points to trade at 3.98 at the close. Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) declined 4.33% or 1.25 points to end at 27.63 and Bapcor Ltd (ASX:BAP) was down 3.58% or 0.21 points to 5.65.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 550 to 532 and 498 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.57% to 12.16.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.21% or 5.10 to $2,393.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.15% or 0.12 to hit $82.81 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.22% or 0.19 to trade at $87.48 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.31% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 99.49.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 105.59.