It has been a dismal end to the trading week for the local share market, following a weak lead from Wall Street. The local bourse plunged at the open and couldn’t gain any traction throughout the session and ended up closing the day 0.92 per cent lower. Investors heavily sold of the miners and energy stocks after a fall in commodity prices overnight, but gold miners bucked the trend closing the day mostly higher. A sea of red also for the big four banks and the telcos sectors.
Today, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 49 points lower to finish at 5,313. Over the week the index lost 6 points.
The value of trades was $4 billion on volume of 588 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Westpac Baking Corporation (ASXWBC) and Amcor Limited
(ASX:AMC).
On the futures market the SPI is 45 points lower.
US Markets
Looking at Wall Street, US major indexes have gained over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has added 1 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has gained 0.8 per cent. The NASDAQ has added 0.3 per cent. The 100 Index has added 0.1 per cent.
Company news Magnis Resources Limited
(ASX:MNS) says it is not aware of any information that would have cause its shares to rise from $0.826 on Monday to a high of $1.10 today. The company says other companies with graphite projects have experienced share price increases recently in domestic equity markets. It also says a research report was recently released by Blue Ocean Equities, initiating coverage on the company. Shares in Magnis Resources closed 4.85 per cent higher at $1.08.
Air New Zealand Limited
(ASX:AIZ) has announced it will sell a 19.98 percent stake in Virgin Australia to privately owned Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group.
Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company Holdings Limited
(ASX:WCB) has announced it will raise up to $142 million to repay debt.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector was Utilities adding 0.4 per cent to close at 7335. The worst performing sector was Materials, losing 2.3 per cent to close at 8,032 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Seven West Media, rising 11.47 per cent to close at $1.22. Shares in Metcash and Whitehaven Coal also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was LNG, dropping 22.79 per cent to close at $0.83. Shares in Sandfire and Blackmores also closed lower.
IPOs LiveHire Limited
(ASX:LVH) started trading today. The cloud based software company floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.22 and closed at $0.18.
Commodities and the dollar
The price of gold is trading at $US1,266 an ounce, and is up $25.96 over the week.
Light crude is $0.94 lower at $US50.56 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $0.7415 and is 0.5 cent up over the week.
