It has been a somewhat bouncy day of trade for the Australian share market, with Australian investors showing uncertainty following a public holiday in the US. After a sharp fall at the open, the local bourse managed to recover some of those early losses in afternoon trade, but ended up closing the day 0.36 per cent lower. The biggest drag on the session today came from Utilities, REITs and Healthcare, with the likes of Sonic Healthcare
(ASX:SHL) falling over 3.5 per cent. Bucking the trend though was the Material sector, the only stand out class that firmed over 1 per cent higher.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 21 points down to finish at 5,763.
The value of trades was $4.6 billion on volume of 658 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 Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC).
On the futures market the SPI is 3 points down.
Asian marketsThe Nikkei is 0.22 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.54 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is 0.55 per cent higher.
Company newsMineral Resources Limited
(ASX:MIN) and Neometals
(ASX:NMT) along with their JV partner at the Mt Marion lithium mine, have announced their Offtake Agreement price has increased. The Australian based lithium miners and Ganfeng Lithium operate the Mt Marion site, South west of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The price payable per metric tonne of 6 per cent spodumene concentrate produced and delivered increased to US$841 from US$750, effective 1 July 2017. Shares in Mineral Resources Limited
(ASX:MIN) closed 2.84 per cent higher at $11.23.
Flight Centre Travel Group
(ASX:FLT) is expecting to report underlying profit before tax, of between $325 million to $330 million for the 2017 financial year, after recording a firm second half recovery.
Liquefied Natural Gas Limited
(ASX:LNG) has secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Stonepeak Partners, to fully fund the Magnolia LNG equity requirement.
Vocus Group
(ASX:VOC) has granted Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co together with its affiliates, the opportunity to conduct non-exclusive due diligence. It comes after KKR made a non-binding offer to buy 100 per cent of Vocus Group’s shares for $3.50 per share.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Materials adding 0.92 per cent to close at 9,981. The worst performing sector was Utilities, losing 1.2 per cent to close at 8,525 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Flight Centre Travel Group Limited
(ASX:FLT), rising 10.36 per cent to close at $44.10. Shares in Galaxy Resources Limited
(ASX:GXY) and Syrah Resources Limited
(ASX:SYR) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Sonic Healthcare Limited
(ASX:SHL), dropping 3.87 per cent to close at $23.34. Shares in Infigen Energy
(ASX:IFN) and Oil Search Limited
(ASX:OSH) also closed lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,225 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.01 higher at $US47.08 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying $US0.7623.
