On the back of strong gains on Wall Street the local market quickly jumped 1 per cent this morning and by 11:30 was up 1.8 per cent.
A shift in rhetoric from the US Federal Reserve was driving the optimism.
Energy stocks were the morning’s best performer again today and despite a continued slide in the iron ore the materials sector was also in the green with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both gaining more than 3 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 91 points up at 5,252. On the futures market the SPI is 25 points higher.
Company news
Spark New Zealand Limited
(ASX:SPK) has announced a joint venture between its internet TV business Lightroom and Coliseum Sports Media.
The telecommunications company says the venture will be called Lightbox Sport and will feed 100% Coliseum Sports Media New Zealand content to its viewers. Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock says the partnership looks to simplify the crowded online TV marketplace and will give customers greater breadth and depth of choice. Shares in Spark are trading up 0.85 per cent at $2.96.
Crowe Horwath Australasia Limited
(ASX:CRH) has seen its takeover by Findex Australia approved by the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The financial services company went into a trading halt yesterday in anticipation of the approval and will now register the court orders with ASIC which should see the scheme come into effect at the close of trade today. Shares in Crowe Horwath last traded at $0.50.
Best and worst performers All major sectors are up today, the best performing sector is energy, gaining 4.4 per cent to 11,251. Shares in Sundance Energy Australia Limited
(ASX:SEA) have risen 14.71 per cent and trading at $0.49. Shares in Liquefied Natural Gas Limited
(ASX:LNG) and Senex Energy Limited
(ASX:SXY) are also stronger.
The sector with the least gains is consumer discretionary, gaining 0.2 per cent to 1,706. Shares in Flight Centre Travel Group Limited
(ASX:FLT) have fallen 9.85 per cent, trading at $31.59. Shares in Tabcorp Holdings Limited
(ASX:TAH) and Ten Network Holdings Limited
(ASX:TEN) are also lower.
IPO Perpetual Equity Investment Company Limited
(ASX:PIC) started trading today. The investment company floated with an issue price of $1.00, opened at $0.975 and is currently trading at $0.975.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,191 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.8121.
