Australian shares gained again today as continued optimism drives buying. Property, industrials and financials lead gains but the positive trend was broad based.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 65 points higher at 4,715 while on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 52.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australians used their credit cards less and paid them off at a faster rate in July. The value of purchases and cash advances on credit and charge cards fell 1.4 per cent and repayments on credit cards increased by 2.8 per cent. The average credit card balance in July was $3,106, down 0.6 per cent compared to a year earlier.
In company news, shares in grains exporter AWB (ASX:AWB) jumped today as a report from RBS Morgans said solid rainfall would boost AWB’s profit in 2010. Rain is now predicted to fall on east coast wheat crops and the news also boosted Graincorp. AWB shares closed 6.88% higher at $1.475.
Mixed investment company Washington H Soul Pattinson (ASX:SOL) has given a profit after tax forecast of between $210 and $230 million ahead of next week's full-year results. In March the group which owns the Soul Pattinson chain of chemists, Brickworks, Ruralco Holdings and SP Telemedia said it expected post-tax profits of around $285 million for the year so the result was lower than some analysts were expecting but shares closed the session 3.45% higher at $12.31.
Woodside Petroleum’s (ASX:WPL) 25% owned Venus well in Sierra Leone has been found to contain a drillable oil field. The announcement was made by overnight US oil and gas explorer Andarko Petroleum which owns 40% of the project.
The Fairfax family will not be supporting the re-election of Fairfax Media (ASX:FXJ) chairman Ron Walker at the annual general meeting in November. Marinya Media, the private family company controlled by John B Fairfax and Nicholas Fairfax, said in a statement today that Mr Walker is well aware of significant shareholder dissatisfaction with his tenure as chairman.
Taking a look at some of the stories covered in our earlier reports: Brewer Lion Nathan’s (ASX:LNN) board has unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of Japan’s Kirin Holdings takeover offer.
Macquarie Airports (ASX:MAP) says its airline customers continue to face a difficult operating environment, however the company is starting to see early signs of traffic recovery.
The best performing sector at close was the Real Estate Investment Trust index, up 23 points to 938. All the indices were in positive territory today but the worst performing was the Healthcare index; which gained 56 points to 8,844.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Linc Energy and shares jumped 16.33 per cent to $1.745. Gunns and Equinox Minerals shares also gained.
The worst performing stock was Nufarm and shares fell 4.32 per cent to $10.20. Shares in PMP and Lynas Corp also lost ground.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1,023.75 U.S an ounce and since this morning light crude oil is down 7 cents at $72.44 U.S a barrel.
