The local share market certainly ran out of puff in afternoon trade after a strong start to the session, it finished the day in positive territory but only just.; closing 0.08 per cent higher. Energy shares took a nose dive today, after the price of oil plunged overnight, but the big news of the day was the highly-anticipated McGrath real estate IPO failing to ignite investor appetite. The shares opened below the offer price of $2.10 and lost even more momentum closing the session at $1.83.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 4 points higher to finish at 5,156.
The value of trades was $4.2 billion on volume of 797 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC).
On the futures market the SPI is flat.
Economic news
According to latest data from the ANZ job advertisements in newspapers and on the internet have grown 1.3 per cent for the month of November. This is compared to only a small increase of 0.3 per cent in October. Overall it looks like advertising positions in the newspaper is becoming less popular; they fell 4.3 per cent in November, while internet ads grew by 1.4 per cent.
Company news Beach Energy Limited
(ASX:BPT) has entered into a $530 million senior secured syndicated corporate debt facility to replace existing lending arrangements. The new facility will initially be drawn to $170 million to refinance current borrowings and letters of credit, with remaining headroom for capital expenditure programs and working capital. Shares in Beach Energy closed 9.71 per cent lower at $0.47.
CIMIC Group’s
(ASX:CIM) global mining contractor, Theiss has been awarded a contract with revenue of $760 million to operate Glencore’s Mt Owen Coal Mine.
Spark New Zealand Limited
(ASX:SPK) says they have agreed to buy the IT infrastructure and service company Computer Concepts for NZ$50 million.
Estia Health
(ASX:EHE) has acquired leading private aged care business Kennedy Health Care Group, comprising of 8 facilities and 959 operational places in Sydney and Wollongong.
Clean Seas Tuna Limited
(ASX:CSS) says they have appointed David Head as CEO and Managing Director.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector was REITs adding 1.1 per cent to close at 1,276. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 4.55 per cent to close at 8,114 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Broadspectrum, rising 47.65 per cent to close at $1.26. Shares in Investa Office Fund and Evolution Mining also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Spotless Group, dropping 13.77 per cent to close at $1.06. Shares in Arrium and Santos also closed lower.
IPOs McGrath Limited
(ASX:MEA) started trading today. The real estate company listed with an issue price of $2.10, opened at $1.94 and a closed at $1.83. Updater Inc
(ASX:UPD) also started trading today. The information technology company floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.36 and closed at $0.345.
Commodities
Gold is trading at $US1,085 an ounce.
Light crude is $1.11 lower at $US39.97 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying 73.31 US cents.
