Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.64%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.64%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL), which rose 5.50% or 5.18 points to trade at 99.35 at the close. Meanwhile, Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) added 5.46% or 2.79 points to end at 53.87 and Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) was up 4.67% or 0.085 points to 1.905 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC), which fell 7.36% or 1.890 points to trade at 23.780 at the close. NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) declined 4.93% or 0.09 points to end at 1.74 and Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) was down 4.92% or 1.830 points to 35.340.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 698 to 694 and 386 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 8.06% to 14.025.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.11% or 1.90 to $1785.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.83% or 0.69 to hit $82.88 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.62% or 0.52 to trade at $83.20 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.38% to 0.7492, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 85.71.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 94.240.