Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.98%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.98% to hit a new 1-month low.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV), which rose 15.59% or 0.15 points to trade at 1.08 at the close. Meanwhile, Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) added 8.11% or 0.40 points to end at 5.33 and Iress Ltd (ASX:IRE) was up 5.66% or 0.60 points to 11.20 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were AUB Group Ltd (ASX:AUB), which fell 9.90% or 2.17 points to trade at 19.73 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) declined 4.30% or 0.08 points to end at 1.67 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was down 3.88% or 0.07 points to 1.61.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1134 to 406 and 347 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 10.32% to 21.41 a new 3-months high.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.16% or 2.97 to $1,861.57 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.37% or 0.38 to hit $103.47 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.25 to trade at $106.19 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 90.65.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 103.65.