It has been an uplifting end to the trading session for the Australian share market with only one day of the 2017 financial year left to go. The local bourse picked up steam towards the end of the session and ended up closing the day 1.08 per cent higher. Sectors were broadly positive today but there were some clear leaders, being Materials, Financials and Energy stocks. However a handful of sectors finished the day in the red. REITS finished lower due to the bulk of them going ex-dividend, but we saw some small losses in Utilities, Industrials and Telcos.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 62 points up to finish at 5,818.
The value of trades was $6 billion on volume of 812 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP) and National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB).
On the futures market the SPI is 69 points up.
Asian marketsThe Nikkei is 0.41 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.89 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is 0.26 per cent higher.
Economic newsAccording to latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics household assets outgrew liabilities during the March quarter 2017, resulting in a 2.4 per cent uptick in household net worth. Household long term loan borrowing has also hit the 2 trillion mark. Job vacancy data has also been released for May, with total job vacancies coming in at 189,200, an increase of 1.7% from February 2017 in trend terms.
Company newsMonadelphous Limited
(ASX:MND) has addressed media speculation regarding an acquisition of a civil engineering company. The mining services giant has neither confirmed or denied the reports but says its constantly on the look out for opportunities to further diversify its revenues. It says it is not pursuing acquisitions to the value speculated in the media. Shares in Monadelphous closed 2.15 per cent up at $14.30.
REA Group Limited
(ASX:REA) is expecting to see a non-cash impairment charge of about $180 million (pre and post tax) for the financial year ending 30 June 2017.
Cabcharge Australia Limited
(ASX:CAB) says it will sell its 49 per cent stake in CityFleet Networks (CFN) for 7.9 million pounds, which is about $13.3 million.
Fleetwood Corporation
(ASX:FWD) has entered into a new supply agreement with an over 50s home provider, Gateway Lifestyle Group
(ASX:GTY).
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Materials adding 2.22 per cent to close at 9,928. The worst performing sector was REITs, losing 1.42 per cent to close at 1,351 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Link Administration Holdings
(ASX:LNK), rising 6.07 per cent to close at $8.00. Shares in Western Areas
(ASX:WSA) and Greencross
(ASX:GXL) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Stockland
(ASX:SGP), dropping 3.81 per cent to close at $4.54. Shares in Myer Holdings
(ASX:MYR) and Vicinity Centres
(ASX:VCX) also closed lower.
IPOsELMO Software Limited
(ASX:ELO) started trading today. The HR software company floated with an issue price of $2.00, opened at $2.17 and closed at $2.50.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,253 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.64 higher at $US44.88 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7662.
