After two dismal trading sessions, the Australian share market has managed to make a recovery today and close 0.59 per cent higher. The energy space did the bulk of the heavy lifting after the price of Brent crude bounced back overnight. It was also a strong session for the financials space; with the big four banks recouping some of yesterday’s losses; also a positive session for the materials space with the big miners Rio Tinto and BHP gaining 1.5 and 2 per cent respectively.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 30 points higher to finish at 5,228.
The value of trades was $4.8 billion on volume of 695 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) and Newcrest Mining Limited
(ASX:NCM).
On the futures market the SPI is up 31 points.
Company newsResApp Health Limited
(ASX:RAP) has responded to an ASX price and volume query regarding a sell-down of its securities from $0.385 cents last Friday to an intra-day low of $0.25 cents today. The company, which is developing an app to detect respiratory disorders, told the ASX it was not aware of any information which hadn’t been announced to the market. However, the company started that more than 55 million shares had been released from escrow on the 2nd of July. Shares in ResApp closed 1.72 per cent higher at $0.29.
Perseus Mining Ltd
(ASX:PRU) says its Edikan Gold Mine in Ghana performed strongly in the June quarter.
AGL Energy Limited
(ASX:AGK) says it acquired a higher than expected amount of wholesale gas from the spot market in the first quarter of the 2017 FY.
Folkestone Limited
(ASX:FLK) has exchanged contracts for its purchase of Watermark Castle Cove, a retirement village in Sydney’s north shore.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Energy adding 1.6 per cent to close at 8,255. The worst performing sector was Utilities, losing 0.9 per cent to close at 7,711 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Mantra Group, rising 4.65 per cent to close at $3.15. Shares in Whitehaven Coal and Altium also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Cimic Group, dropping 16.53 per cent to close at $30.25. Shares in Iluka Resources and Covermore also closed lower.
IPOsKogan.com Limited
(ASX:KGN) started trading today. The online retailer listed with an issue price of $1.80, opened at $1.80 and a closed at $1.50.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,369 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.83 higher at $US47.43 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7508.
