The Australian share market has shrugged of a lack-lustre lead from Wall Street and gathered momentum throughout the session before closing 0.25 per cent higher. The financials space led up by the big four banks provided the biggest support to the index, with CBA charging up almost 2 per cent. It was a sea of red however for the energy space; continuing to be disposed of by investors, with Santos and Senex Energy the biggest casualties.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 12 points up to finish at 5,240.
The value of trades was $6.9 billion on volume of 928 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB) and ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ).
On the futures market the SPI is 12 points up.
Economic newsLatest job figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have shown a drop in the unemployment rate for August to 5.6 per cent. Full-time employment rose by 11,500 jobs beating economists’ expectations.
Company newsBlackwall Limited
(ASX:BWF) has gone into a trading halt pending the release of an announcement by the company. The property fund manager says the announcement relates to a share placement and will be released to the market Monday morning at the latest. Shares in Blackwall last traded at $0.64.
Myer Holdings
(ASX:MYR) has more than doubled its full-year profit to $60.5 million in the 12 months to 30 July 2016.
Beston Global Food Company Ltd
(ASX:BFC) has acquired Australian Provincial Cheese for $2.2 million.
The GPT Group
(ASX:GPT) will pay $157 million to purchase 164.2 million securities in the GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Materials adding 0.9 per cent to close at 8,510. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 1.2 per cent to close at 7,801 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Saracen Minerals, rising 5.69 per cent to close at $1.49. Shares in Oz Minerals and Covermore also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Automotive Holdings, dropping 5.08 per cent to close at $4.30. Shares in APA Group and Flight Centre also closed lower.
IPOsHotcopper Limited
(ASX:HOT) started trading today. The online stock market forum listed with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.23 and a closed at $0.265.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,322 an ounce. Light crude is $1.33 down at $US44.15 a barrel. The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7468.
