Falls continue: Aus shares 0.49% lower at noon

Following lack lustre leads from Wall Street, the local share market has once again fallen into the red at the open and has continued to lose momentum in the first two hours of trade, tracking 0.49 per cent lower at noon. The Financials space is continuing to be sold off following statements by President Donald Trump that he will be breaking up Wall Street’s biggest banks. We have also seen further weakness in the materials space with heavyweight Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) shedding around 1.5 per cent.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 29 points down at 5,863. On the futures market the SPI is 31 points lower.

Company news

Santos Limited (ASX:STO) says Chinese firm Hony Capital has lifted its stake in the LNG producer. Hony has purchased 48 million shares in Santos representing a 2.3 per cent interest. The purchase will increase Hony Capital’s interest in Santos to 15.1 per cent. The acquisition price represents a 6 per cent premium to yesterday’s closing price of $3.63. Shares in Santos are trading up 0.69 per cent at $3.66.

Orica Limited (ASX:ORI) has announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Orica Finance, has completed a $398 million issue of 10 year fixed rate senior unsecured notes in the US private placement market. While initially launched as a US$150 million issue the transaction achieved a final order book of US$1.6 billion, an oversubscription of around 10 times. The explosives giant says proceeds raised will be used to repay other placement notes and for general corporate purposes. Shares in Orica are trading down 0.11 per cent at $18.40.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector is Utilities, gaining 1.4 per cent to 9,141. Shares in AGL Limited (ASX:AGL) have risen 2.2 per cent and trading at $27.70. Shares in Spark Infrastructure (ASX:SPK) and APA Group (ASX:APA) are also stronger.

The worst performing sector is Materials, falling 1.1 per cent to 9,508. Shares in Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) have fallen 5 per cent, trading at $9.69. Shares in Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) and Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) are also lower.

IPOs

The Hydroponics Company Limited (ASX:THC) started trading today. The medicinal cannabis provider floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.33 and is currently trading at $0.32.

Gold and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,241 an ounce and the Australian dollar is buying $US0.7417.