Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.15%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.15% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC), which rose 7.86% or 0.61 points to trade at 8.37 at the close. Meanwhile, ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) added 7.52% or 2.03 points to end at 29.01 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) was up 7.03% or 0.27 points to 4.11 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which fell 35.71% or 0.22 points to trade at 0.41 at the close. Nextdc Ltd (ASX:NXT) declined 5.13% or 0.45 points to end at 8.32 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 4.14% or 0.39 points to 9.03.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 731 to 574 and 381 ended unchanged.

Shares in EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) fell to 5-year lows; down 35.71% or 0.22 to 0.41. Shares in Nextdc Ltd (ASX:NXT) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.13% or 0.45 to 8.32.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.07% to 15.82 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.05% or 0.80 to $1,645.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.51% or 0.45 to hit $87.45 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.52 to trade at $93.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY rose 0.47% to 94.97.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 110.77.