The Australian share market has opened higher, following new records on Wall Street. The Dow, S&P500 and the Nasdaq all posted record closes after a stellar US jobs report smashed through expectations.
Almost half of the sectors here, are trading almost 1% higher each, while Ultilites appear to be the only drag on the session so far.
In the first two hours of trade, the market sharply rose, pushing higher again after Japan’s Nikkei 225 index broke above 20,000 for the first time since 2015.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 49 points up (or 0.87 per cent higher) at 5.787.
On the futures market the SPI is 35 points higher.
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 1.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.5 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has fallen 0.1 per cent.
Company news A.P. Eagers Limited
(ASX:APE) has agreed to buy the Porsche Centre Adelaide dealership. The automotive retailer estimates the total consideration will be about $14 million, which includes goodwill, net assets and transaction costs. The South Australian Porsche dealership sells over 300 new and used Porsche’s each year, which made the dealership $573 million in turnover in 2016. A.P. Eagers expects the transaction to be completed in July 2017. Shares in A.P. Eagers are trading 0.4 per cent higher to $7.56.
The ACCC has made a draft decision to approve a strategic alliance with Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
(ASX:VAH), HNA Aviation, Hong Kong Airlines and HK Express. The proposed alliance will allow Virgin Australia to introduce new direct services between Australia and Hong Kong, as well as Australia and China. Subject to approvals the airlines also plan to introduce a reciprocal partnership, between Velocity Frequent Flyer and Fortune Wings Club, which will offer flyers opportunity to earn points and access airline lounges. Shares in Virgin Australia are flat at 17 cents.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Telcos, gaining 1.35 per cent to 1,563.
Shares in Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS) have risen 1.58 per cent and trading at $4.50.
Shares in Chorus Limited are stronger, while Vocus Group Limited
(ASX:VOC) is trading lower.
The worst performing sector is Utilites, falling 1.3 per cent to 9,067.
Shares in AGL Energy Limited
(ASX:AGL) have fallen 2.74 per cent, trading at $26.23.
Shares in Spark Infrastructure Group
(ASX:Ski) and APA Group
(ASX:Apa) are also lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,263 an ounce and
The Australian dollar is buying 73.88 US cents.
