Stronger commodity prices have boosted resource stocks today and pushed the market up to a five-month high. In particular, gold miners and energy stocks performed well on firmer oil and gold prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index is 16 points higher to close at 4,698. And on the futures market, the SPI200 is up 14 points.
To company news: Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:VBA) says the failure of its check-in and reservation system last month cost the company an estimated $15 to $20 million. The computer glitch saw thousands of passengers stranded and a number of flights cancelled over 11 days. Virgin Blue says it will actively pursue all avenues to recover the cost of this outage of its Navitaire/Accenture hosted reservations and check-in operating system. Shares in Virgin Blue closed 3.23% weaker at $0.45.
Lend Lease Group (ASX:LLC) Chairman David Crawford says the company is well placed for growth and will look for opportunities to further enhance its presence in Asia. In the company’s annual report released today, Mr Crawford says the property developer has had an exceptional year having secured a number of development opportunities including the $6 billion Barangaroo project in Sydney. Mr Crawford says the outlook for Lend Lease is very positive provided the company execute well on the delivery of this pipeline. There are signs of opportunities emerging in Asia, he says, and over the next few years the group will invest more capital in this region. Shares in Lend Lease Group closed 0.64% lower at $7.81.
Also making news: Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) Iron Ore, chief executive, Sam Walsh has told reporters that the miner’s tie-up with BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) is still a live issue. This comes after speculation Rio may be planning to walk away from the proposed alliance.
According to a report in The Australian a Korean newspaper has said ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) will pursue a deal to acquire a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank. The report says the bank is likely to make an offer to buy out the Korean bank’s minority shareholders.
Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) will provide $150 million of funding to facilitate the merger of two New South Wales racing clubs, as well as the redevelopment of Randwick racecourse.
And grocery retail giant Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) has completed a $704 million share buy-back and says it has now returned more that $1 billion to shareholders this year.
In the best and worst performers: The best performing sector at close was Materials, with the index up 159 to 13,188. The worst performing sector was Consumer Staples with the index down 80 points to 8,252.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was PanAust shares closing 11.49% stronger at $0.825. Shares in Cudeco and Medusa Mining also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was iSOFT Group shares closed 4% weaker at $0.12. Shares in Virgin Blue Holdings and Charter Hall Office REIT also closed lower today.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1352 US an ounce. And light crude is up $0.75 at $83.41 US a barrel.
