It has been a disappointing end to this shortened trading week for the Australian share market, dropping at the open and remaining underwater for the rest of the session, closing the day 0.74 per cent lower. After commodities took a hit overnight, the Materials sector was sold off today, with the iron ore miners faring the worst. However it wasn’t all doom and gloom with the Utilties sector closing higher along with Staples and Consumer Discretionaries.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 44 points down to finish at 5,890, it was 27 points higher over the week
The value of trades was $5.3 billion on volume of 828 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS), BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO).
On the futures market the SPI is 51 points down.
Asian marketsThe Nikkei is 0.7 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.25 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is currently flat.
US marketsLooking at Wall Street, US major indexes were down over the three trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 0.3 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has lost 0.45 per cent. The NASDAQ was down 0.7 per cent. The 100 Index has slipped 0.8 per cent.
Economic newsUnemployment for March has remained steady at 5.9 per cent, according to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Total employment growth over the year was 1.0 per cent, just over half the average growth rate of the past 20 years.
Company newsTopBetta Holdings Limited
(ASX:TBH) has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Melbourne-based racing and sports wagering company Mad Bookie. Mad Bookie has been established for 2 years with an annualised turnover of around $80 million. Upon completion TopBetta will pay an initial instalment of $100,000 in cash to Mad Bookie amongst satisfying other conditions. Shares in TopBetta closed flat at $0.16.
CIMIC Group Ltd
(ASX:CIM) has released its first-quarter results for this year, reporting quarterly revenue rose 25.6% to $3 billion.
The Foreign Investment Review Board has approved Yancoal Australia Ltd’s
(ASX:YAL) US$2.45 billion bid to acquire Rio Tinto’s Coal & Allied division.
Afterpay Holdings
(ASX:AFY) has released a third-quarter business update, and says underlying merchant sales rose 41% over the last quarter to $144.9 million.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was REITs adding 0.9 per cent to close at 1,452. The worst performing sector was Materials, losing 2.9 per cent to close at 9,869 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST), rising 6.81 per cent to close at $4.86. Shares in Independence Group
(ASX:IGO) and Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Mineral Resources
(ASX:MIN), dropping 10.63 per cent to close at $10.34. Shares in Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL) and Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,285 an ounce up $27.43 over the week.
Light crude is $0.54 lower at $US53.23 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7592 up 0.9 of a cent over the week.
