In the red: Aus shares tumble 1.05% at noon

Market Reports

by Carolyn Herbert

Despite being poised for a flat open the Australian share market quickly lost all momentum in the first two hours of trade and is now tracking 1.05 per cent lower at noon. All sectors are in negative territory but the big miners are proving to be the biggest weight on the index with BHP and Rio Tinto both shedding around 3.5 per cent. Despite the financials space performing well in the US, our big banks have all been sold off with CBA and Westpac leading the losses down around 1.5 per cent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 57 points down at 5,421 On the futures market the SPI is down 57 points.

Company news

Lithium Power International Limited (ASX:LPI) has gone into a trading halt pending the release of an announcement by the company. The lithium explorer says the announcement relates to material developments in the Maricunga Lithium Joint Venture. The company’s shares will remain in the halt until the earlier of this Friday or when the announcement is released to the market. Shares in Lithium Power International last traded at $0.30.

MedAdvisor Limited (ASX:MDR) has announced the acquisition of Health Enterprises 2, a leader in healthcare technology for medication adherence management for a total consideration of $5.5 million paid as 60 per cent cash and 40 per cent scrip. The acquisition increases the number and value of prescriptions ordered through MedAdvisor’s platforms to more than 320,000 prescriptions per month, an annualised value of $150 million. Shares in MedAdvisor are trading up 8.33 per cent at $0.039.

Best and worst performers

The sector with the least losses is Telcos, losing 0.4 per cent to 1,943. Shares in Vocus Communications have risen 0.65 per cent and trading at $7.69. Shares in Spark NZ are higher and TPG Telecom are lower.

The worst performing sector is Materials, falling 2.7 per cent to 8,626. Shares in St Barbara have fallen 5.92 per cent, trading at $2.86. Shares in Syrah Resources and Newcrest Mining are also lower.

Gold and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,315 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7521.



 

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