Rally continues: Aus shares close 0.9% higher

Market Reports

by Carolyn Herbert

Well it has been another strong finish to the trading day for the Australian share market, extending on yesterday’s strong gains and closing the day 0.9 per cent higher. Once again we saw a sea of green across all the sectors, with the star performers being Industrials, Energy and Financials. Even though Utilities had a slow start to the session, it came home strong and finished the day about 0.6 per cent higher. At the end of the day, Telcos had the least gains.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 52 points up to finish at 5,874.

The value of trades was $6.2 billion on volume of 885 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC).

On the futures market the SPI is 49 points up.

Company news

Pilbara Minerals Limited (ASX:PLS) says it has agreed to farm-in to Atlas Iron’s (ASX:AGO) Cisco Lithium Prospect. Sampling of the prospect has identified lithium enrichment at grades which are in line with Pilbara’s flagship Pilgangoora lithium project. The two companies have also entered into a memorandum of understanding setting out terms for Atlas to provide logistics services to a direct shipping ore phase of Pilbara’s Pilgangoora Lithium project. Shares in Pilbara Minerals Limited closed 3.49 per cent higher at $0.45.

Kerrie Mather has decided to retire as Managing Director and CEO of Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD).

South-American lithium producer Orocobre (ASX:ORE) has completed selling a suite of exploration assets to Advantage Lithium Corp.

Power company ENGIE has signed an electricity offtake agreement with Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) which is expected to boost energy security in South Australia.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Industrials adding 1.35 per cent to close at 5,348. The sector with the least gains was Telcos, gaining 0.25 per cent to close at 1,632 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Aconex (ASX:ACX), rising 7.28 per cent to close at $3.98. Shares in Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) and IPH Limited (ASX:IPH) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY), dropping 4.17 per cent to close at $0.46. Shares in Saracen Minerals (ASX:SAR) and Blackmores (ASX:BKL) also closed lower.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,249 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.58 higher at $US48.44 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7641.





 

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