It has been a stellar end to the session for the Australian share market this Wednesday, continuing to gain momentum throughout the day before closing 0.91 per cent higher. The financials space was the star performer this session with gains in all of the big four banks; CBA once again breaching that $79 mark. It was a sea of red across the energy space however after we saw the oil price break its winning streak overnight and lose around a dollar per barrel.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 49 points up to finish at 5,478.
The value of trades was $5.7 billion on volume of 875 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) and ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ).
On the futures market the SPI is 49 points up.
Economic newsGDP in Australia has tumbled in the September quarter, falling by 0.5 per cent. This represents the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2008.
Company newsCharter Hall Group
(ASX:CHC) says its CFO Paul Altschwager has left the company. Charter Hall says current Head of Group Finance Anne Edwards and group treasurer Phil Schretzmeyer will act jointly in the position until a replacement is found. In addition the Group says there are no changes to its FY17 earnings guidance of 7 per cent post tax growth in Operating Earnings per Security. Shares in Charter Hall Group closed 0.9 per cent up at $4.50.
Mineral sands companies, Iluka Resources
(ASX:ILU) and Sierra Rutile, have held discussions about a potential merger which was supposed to have been finalised on 29 November 2016.
Plaintiff law firm, Maurice Blackburn, has filed a class action in the Federal Court of Australia against construction and engineering giant, CIMIC Group Ltd
(ASX:CIM) for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct.
Financial markets technology company, IRESS
(ASX:IRE), has announced that UK’s first digital only bank, Atom Bank, is now using its mortgage processing software, Mortgage Sales and Originations (MSO).
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Financials adding 1.24 per cent to close at 6,266. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 0.7 per cent to close at 8,925 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Bapcor, rising 7.77 per cent to close at $5.41. Shares in TPG Telecom and Aconex also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Syrah Resources, dropping 4.21 per cent to close at $2.73. Shares in Regis Healthcare and Origin Energy also closed lower.
IPOsDreamscape Networks Limited
(ASX:DN8) started trading today. The IT company listed with an issue price of $0.25, opened at $0.28 and closed at $0.25.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,168 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.88 lower at $US50.91 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US7429.
