Today, the Australian share market is following strong leads from Wall Street. It is now tracking 1.71 per cent higher at noon, a large improvement over yesterday. All sectors are in the green. The Energy space is leading the charge.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 91 points higher at 5,386. On the futures market the SPI is up 100 points.
Company news Z Energy Limited
(ASX:ZNZ) has received clearance from the NZ government to completely acquire Chevron New Zealand, who owns the Caltex and Challenge brands in NZ. Settlement of this transaction will occur on 1 June, with Chevron to be paid $785 million.
Shares in Z Energy are trading 1.66% higher at $7.34.
St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has announced that a major drill programme is underway to test priority gold targets at its fully-owned East Laverton Project in WA. The company is planning 2,300 metres of reverse circulation drilling in the first phase of this gold-focused drill programme.
Shares in St George Mining are down 5.88% at $0.16.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector is Energy, up 2.8% to 8,151 points. Shares in Worley Parsons have risen 7.42% per cent and are trading at $6.08. Shares in Origin Energy and Santos are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Staples, increase by 0.2 per cent to 8,616. Shares in Wesfarmers fell 0.95 per cent (on the back of a $2.3 billion writedown over its struggling Target chain). Wesfarmers is currently trading at $41.57. However, shares in Asaleo Care and Metcash were stronger.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,229 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7183.
