It has been a disappointing start to the trading week for the Australian share market, following mixed leads from Wall Street on Friday after the US House of Representatives pulled a health care bill. The local bourse dropped at the open and has continued to linger in negative territory in the first two hours of trade tracking 0.56 per cent lower at lunchtime. The Materials space is being hit the hardest this session with mining heavyweights BHP
(ASX:BHP) shedding around 2.5 per cent and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) shedding close to 2 per cent. REITs are the only sector to buck the trend, with gains of around 0.3 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 36 points down at 5,718. On the futures market the SPI is 33 points lower.
Company newsSouth32 Limited
(ASX:S32) has announced it intends to return an additional US$500 million to shareholders via a share buy-back. The diversified miner says the announcement demonstrates its disciplined approach to capital management and confidence in the Group’s cash generating capacity. The US$500 million program is expected to be completed over a 12 month period and follows the recent announcement of South32’s US$192 million dividend. Shares in South32 are trading down 3.13 per cent at $2.64.
RCR Tomlinson Limited
(ASX:RCR) has announced it has been awarded a contract valued at around $85 million to design and construct a major utility solar farm located at Manildra in New South Wales. The project will commence immediately, with construction scheduled to commence in June 2017. Completion is expected in the second quarter of 2018. Shares in RCR Tomlinson are trading up 2.48 per cent at $3.30
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is REITs, gaining 0.36 per cent to 1,367. Shares in Stockland
(ASX:SGP) have risen 1.32 per cent and trading at $4.60. Shares in Mirvac Group
(ASX:MGR)and BWP Trust
(ASX:BWP) also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Materials, falling 1.66 per cent to 9,635. Shares in Western Areas
(ASX:WSA) have fallen 3.75 per cent, trading at $2.31. Shares in Adelaide Brighton
(ASX:ABC) and Galaxy Resources
(ASX:GXY) are also lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,257 an ounce and the Australian dollar is buying $US0.7623.
