Following a horror trading day yesterday where more than $55 billion was wiped off the local share market, Australian stocks have staged a relief rally this morning opening in positive territory and tracking 0.6 per cent higher at noon.
The healthcare space in particular has staged a strong rebound following a recovery in US healthcare stocks overnight. The materials space has also erased some of yesterday’s losses with the big miners BHP and Rio Tinto making strong gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is up 31 points to 4,949. On the futures market the SPI is up 41 points.
Company news
Mesoblast Limited
(ASX:MSB) says additional Phase 2 trial results for its chronic heart failure treatment product were presented at the 19th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America. The results have shown that Mesoblast’s MPC therapy had the greatest cardio protective effect in the subset of patients with more advanced heart failure. Shares in Mesoblast are trading 4.61 per cent lower at $3.31.
Avita Medical Limited
(ASX:AVH), a medical device company specialising in the treatment of wounds and skin defects has been awarded a US$53.9 million contract for the development and procurement of its ReCell product. ReCell first gained prominence as a treatment for burns victims following the 2002 Bali bombings. Shares in Avita Medical are trading up 22.86 per cent at 8.6 cents.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector is Telcos, gaining 1.85 per cent to 2.001. Shares in TPG have risen 4.93 per cent and trading at $10.64. Shares in M2 Group and Telstra are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Utilities, falling 1.5 per cent to 6,394. Shares in AGL Energy have fallen 3.39 per cent, trading at $15.68. Shares in APA Group and Spark Infrastructure are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,124 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying 70.05 US cents.
