It has been a positive day of trade for the Australian share market after the ASX200 flirted above the 5700 point mark, since mid morning. Despite Wall Street closing in the red overnight, the Dow Jones pushed above the 20,000 point market, which saw our markets open in the black. The local bourse maintained momentum throughout the session, and lifted higher before closing up 0.75 per cent.
All main sectors surged ahead today, bar Materials which was weighed down by falls in the gold price to almost two-week lows.
Consumer’s Staples took the most gains, the likes of Asaleo Care
(ASX:AHY), Bellamy’s Australia (ASX: BAL), Treasury Wine Estates
(ASX:TWE) and Tassal Group (ASX: TGR) all etching gains of over 3%.
Markets At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 43 points up to finish at 5,714. Over the week we gained 59 points.
The value of trades was $4.5 billion on volume of 609 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO), BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA.
On the futures market the SPI is 6 points up.
Wall StreetUS major indices have gained over the four trading days this week:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has added 1.4 per cent.
The S&P 500 Index has added 1.1 per cent.
The NASDAQ has added 1.8 per cent.
The 100 Index has added 1.8 as well.
Local economic newsThe Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported the largest quarterly rise in export prices since June 2010. The Export Price Index soared 12.4% in the December 2016 quarter, while Import Price Index rose 0.2% in the same period.
The ABS also reported a subdued price rise for goods and services produced in Australia, with the Producer Prices Index (PPI) rising 0.5%, also in the same period.
Company newsBradken Limited
(ASX:BKN) has announced its takeover bid by Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM), has now been approved from The South African Competition Commission.The proposed HCM bid involves a 100% controlling interest in the global manufacuter, Bradken.Bradken says there are also two remaining regulatory approvals.Shares in Bradken Limited closed 0.6 per cent higer at $3.23
ResMed
(ASX:RMD) has announced its revenue soared to $530.4 million for Q2 for the period ending 30 June 2016. It was 17% jump in revenue, compared to the same period last year.
Doray Minerals Limited (ASX: DRM) announced its forecasting its total gold production will be up to 110,000 ounces for the 2017 financial year. The gold miner’s Deflector and Andy Well’s projects are also forecasting up to 4,600 tonnes of copper for the same period
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Staples adding 1.6 per cent to close at 8,943 The worst performing sector was Materials, losing 0.6 per cent to close at 10,439 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Tassal Group
(ASX:TGR), rising 5.32 per cent to close at $4.75. Shares in Asaleo Care
(ASX:AHY) and Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN), dropping 6.61 per cent to close at $2.12. Shares in Technology One
(ASX:TNE) and Northern Star
(ASX:NST) also closed lower.
CommoditiesGold is trading at $US1,184 an ounce. Over the week it lost $20.76
Light crude is 70 cents higher at $US53.71 a barrel.
The dollar The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7529 at a loss of 0.3 of a cent over the week
