A strong session on Wall St overnight has flowed through to the local share market today, with Aussie stocks extending an earlier rally to close higher this afternoon. Energy and financial stocks led the gains as investor’s appetite for risk returned.
And strong trade data showing a surplus of $134 million in April helped to lift the Aussie dollar today.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished the day 105 points stronger at 4,486. While on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 100.
To company news around this afternoon: Property investor Stockland Group Ltd (ASX:SGP) has acquired a 54 hectare residential land parcel in QLD for $23.5 million. The land parcel is located 35 kilometres south of Brisbane’s CBD and has development approval for around 530 residential lots, bringing Stockland’s position in the area to around 1,600 lots. The company says the project will have an end value of around $210 million. Stockland says this is the sixth residential land acquisition it has made to date in the 2010 financial year, bringing its newly acquired lots to around 5,280 at a total cost of around $274 million for the period. Shares in Stockland closed 1.29% higher at $3.92.
Shares in crane hire company Boom Logistics Ltd (ASX:BOL) have skyrocketed today after the company announced it had received a takeover offer from private equity group Archer Capital. Boom says it has received a highly conditional, confidential and incomplete proposal from Archer to acquire the company via a scheme of arrangement at an indicative price of 52 cents a share. The company says it has not formed an opinion on the offer just yet and says it will look at the impact of the improving operating environment and recent contract wins on the expected financial performance of the business before assessing the proposal. Shares in Boom Logistics closed 35% stronger at $0.405.
Also making news: Western Australian explorer Conquest Mining Ltd (ASX:CQT) has announced its intention to make a $58 million takeover offer for North Queensland Metals Ltd (ASX:NQM) to form a larger, more diverse gold mining company.
Vaccine maker CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) has recalled its 2010 flu vaccine Fluvax following news that it could be harmful for children under the age of five.
AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGK) has today upgraded its earnings guidance for fiscal 2010 on continued strength in its underlying business.
And QBE Insurance Group (ASX:QBE) says that it has enough protection to cover any claims that may arise from the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to cater for an increase in motor liability claims in the UK.
In the best and worst performers: All sectors closed in the black today with the best performing sector the Financials, excluding Real Estate Investment Trust index, up 152 points at 5,141. The sector with the smallest gain at close was the Health Care index; up 84 points at 8,184.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Roc Oil Company, shares rose 10.45% to $0.37, while shares in Energy World Corp and Mt Gibson Iron also closed higher.
The worst performing was iSoft Group for the second day in a row, shares down 7.69% to close at $0.36. Shares in Pacific Brands and Avoca Resources also closed weaker today.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1,224.45 U.S an ounce, and light crude is up $0.28 to $72.86 U.S a barrel.
