Election eve: Aus shares close flat

Market Reports

by Carolyn Herbert

Well it has been a cautious day for the Australian share market, closing just hours before Americans go to the polls to vote for the next US President. The local bourse jumped at the open but continued to lose momentum throughout the session as investors reduced their positions ahead of the big decision between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tomorrow our time. The ASX200 closed flat or 0.1 per cent higher at the final bell. The materials space along with energy did the bulk of the heavy lifting this session buoyed by the big miners BHP and Rio Tinto. The financials space was the worst performer with the big four banks sold off by about 1 per cent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 7 points up to finish at 5,258.

The value of trades was $5.4 billion on volume of 788 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP), Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) and ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ).

On the futures market the SPI is up 4 points.

Company news

SurfStitch Group Limited (ASX:SRF) has gone into a trading halt as the embattled surf-wear retailer considers another takeover offer from Crown Financial. Last week, Crown Financial made a $55.4 million takeover bid for SurfStitch; which was rejected for being highly conditional and not in the best interests of shareholders at 20 cents per share. SurfStitch shares will remain in a trading halt until this Thursday or when an announcement is released to the market. Shares in SurfStitch last traded at $0.18.

Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) has released its September quarter trading update. During that period, its cash earnings and statutory net profit was $2.4 billion.

REA Group Ltd (ASX:REA) has reported that its September quarter revenue was $170 million, a 16% increase on the PCP.

APN Outdoor Group Ltd (ASX:APO) has upgraded its earnings guidance, expecting to report revenue growth between 8.5% and 9%.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Energy adding 1.49 per cent to close at 8,293. The worst performing sector was Utilities, losing 0.66 per cent to close at 7,142 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was APN Outdoor, rising 17.06 per cent to close at $5.42. Shares in Western Areas and A2 Milk also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Southern Cross Media, dropping 4.86 per cent to close at $1.37. Shares in Nine Entertainment and Macquarie Group also closed lower.

IPOs

Charter Hall Long Wale REIT Limited (ASX:CLW) started trading today. The Real Estate Investment company listed with an issue price of $4.00, opened at $4.01 and closed at $3.98.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,283 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.88 higher at $US44.95 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7704.




 

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