Following positive leads from Wall Street a day after the Fed indicated it would be putting rate hikes on the back-burner, the Australian share market opened in the black and is currently tracking 0.45 per cent higher at noon. The materials space led by the big miners is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting so far, with BHP gaining almost 4 per cent and Rio Tinto adding 2.5 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 24 points higher at 5,192. On the futures market the SPI is up 10 points.
Company news Nine Entertainment Co
(ASX:NEC) has agreed to acquire 9.99 per cent of the shares in Southern Cross Media from Macquarie Group. Nine will pay a price of $1.15 per Southern Cross share. Shares in Nine Entertainment are trading down 0.15 per cent at $1.57.
Aconex Limited
(ASX:ACX) has announced the successful completion of a $120 million placement of ordinary shares to institutional investors . The proceeds of the placement will be used to finance the company’s acquisition of Conject Holding a leading cloud and mobile collaboration service provider in Europe. Shares in Aconex are trading up 1.86 per cent at $5.47.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector is Materials, gaining 2 per cent to 7,580. Shares in Northern Star have risen 6.84 per cent and trading at $3.75. Shares in Fortescue and Sandfire are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Healthcare, falling 1 per cent to 19,025. Shares in Sirtex have fallen 6.07 per cent, trading at $28.45. Shares in CSL and Mesoblast are also lower.
IPOs N1 Holdings Limited
(ASX:N1H) started trading today. The residential mortgage broking company floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.23 and is currently trading at $0.22.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,259 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7636.
