Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.04%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.04%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG), which rose 30.81% or 1.06 points to trade at 4.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 11.92% or 0.41 points to end at 3.85 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was up 7.78% or 0.10 points to 1.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which fell 4.50% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.53 at the close. Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) declined 2.87% or 2.55 points to end at 86.43 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was down 2.86% or 0.11 points to 3.74.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 752 to 540 and 364 ended unchanged.

Shares in United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) rose to 52-week highs; up 30.81% or 1.06 to 4.50.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 8.87% to 14.30.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.05% or 0.90 to $1,970.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.56% or 0.41 to hit $73.22 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.26 to trade at $78.02 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.59% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 87.74.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 102.23.