It has been a positive start to the trading week for the local share market, opening in the black and gaining momentum throughout the session before closing 0.78 per cent higher. The materials space did the bulk of the heavy lifting this session with some stellar gains in gold stocks like Newcrest and Evolution Mining. We also saw a turnaround in the energy space, with LNG rocketing up more that 16 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 42 points higher to finish at 5,360.
The value of trades was $4.3 billion on volume of 637 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) and ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ).
On the futures market the SPI is up 40 points.
Economic news
Job ads rose by 2.4 per cent for the month of May, according to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is compared to a 0.6 per cent fall in April. The figures mark the biggest increase in job ads in 8 months. Internet ads continued to rise, while newspaper ads fell away by more than 12 per cent.
Company news ASG Group
(ASX:ASZ) has announced a major expansion of its contracts with a leading international construction and contracting group. The expansion involves the transformation of the client’s Oracle applications across its operations in Australia and Asia-Pacific to ASG’s New World platform. The contract will commence fully in FY17, contributing to ASG’s revenue growth in FY17, 18 and beyond. Shares in ASG Group closed 3.88 per cent lower at $0.99.
Cardno Limited
(ASX:CDD) has announced it has successfully completed the institutional component of its fully underwritten 1 for 1.07 pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.
Webjet Limited
(ASX:WEB) has announced it has acquired car and motor home rental business Online Republic for NZ$85 million.
Blue Sky Limited
(ASX:BLA) has announced it has closed its Retail Entitlement Offer, raising a total of $36.8 million.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector was Materials adding 3.8 per cent to close at 8,179. The worst performing sector was Telcos, losing 0.2 per cent to close at 2,068 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Liquefied Natural Gas, rising 16.94 per cent to close at $0.72. Shares in St Barbara and Northern Star also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Genworth Mortgage, dropping 3.93 per cent to close at $2.69. Shares in Austal and IAG also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,241 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.37 down at $US48.62 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7332.
