Following disappointing leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market has opened in negative territory and is tracking 0.49 per cent lower at noon. The big four banks, in particular ANZ, are leading the losses after Westpac announced it would be raising capital. The energy space is also weighing heavily on the index, with Santos and Origin Energy making the biggest falls.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is down 26 points to 5,177. On the futures market the SPI is down 39 points.
Company news Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited
(ASX:DMP) has signed an agreement to acquire the Pizza Sprint chain of pizza stores in France. Pizza Sprint has 89 pizza stores in the west of France, comprising 12 corporate stores and 77 franchise stores. Shares in Domino’s Pizza are trading up 4.83 per cent at $41.69.
Lucapa Diamond Company
(ASX:LOM) has doubled alluvial diamond mining and throughput at Lulo to treat 20,000 bulk cubic metres per month. Diamond recoveries were up 143 per cent in the September quarter and the company says exceptional sale prices were achieved for that production. Shares in Lucapa are trading 1.15 per cent lower at 43 cents.
Best and worst performers
All sectors are down but the best of a bad bunch is Healthcare, dropping 0.07 per cent to 17,727. Shares in Sonic Healthcare have risen 2.32 per cent and trading at $18.50. Shares in Fisher Paykel Health and Ansell are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Energy, falling 2.7 per cent to 8,749. Shares in Santos have fallen 6.83 per cent, trading at $5.18. Shares in Liquefied Natural Gas and Origin Energy are also lower.
IPOs Baby Bunting Group Limited
(ASX:BBN) started trading today. The baby goods retailer floated with an issue price of $1.40, opened at $1.96 and is currently trading at $1.88.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,168 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying 72.23 US cents.
