The Australian share market kicked off the week on a high, opening in the black, following positive leads from Wall Street, after the US posted a better-than expected jobs report. Just in the first hour of trade the ASX200 was trading 0.6 per cent higher, but it’s been going from strength to strength and tracked 0.73 per cent up at midday.
Most of the sectors are trading higher, with the most gains in the Consumer Discretionary space, followed by Financials, which gained over 1 per cent each. JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH), BIG Un Limited
(ASX:BIG), Automotive Holdings
(ASX:AHG) and Ardent Leisure
(ASX:AAD) are all trading over 2 per cent higher.
Ardent shares are trading higher, despite the owner of Dreamworld reporting unaudited revenues for June fell from prior corresponding period.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 41 points up at 5,745. On the futures market the SPI is 42 points higher.
Checking in with how Asian markets are tracking now, mixed - Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.55 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.28 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.18 per cent.
To company newsWashington H. Soul Pattinson and Company (WHSP)
(ASX:SOL) has won a Federal court case against Perpetual Investment Management. The Federal Court of Australia rejected Perpetual’s claim that the company engaged in oppressive conduct on a cross shareholding with Brickworks
(ASX:BKW). The court said, the cross-shareholding to date was not unfair or oppressive. Justice Jagot also said, the directors of each company have diligently considered the structure and their obligations to act in the best interest of the company. Shares in Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company
(ASX:SOL) are up 0.65 per cent at $17.09
CIMIC Group
(ASX:CIM) has announced its 45 per cent owned, Middle East-based HLG contracting company, has been awarded a $224 million Dubai Project. The construction giant says HLG will be responsible for building 5, 16-storey towers for the Dubai World Trade Centre. Three of the towers will be co-joined through a multi story podium and the other two will be co-joined through another shared podium. Construction is set to commence in July 2017 and will be due for completion in June 2019, in time to host guests and participating countries of the Expo 2020 Dubai. Shares in CIMIC Group
(ASX:CIM) are trading up 0.89 per cent at $38.54.
The best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, gaining 1.14 per cent to 2,205. Shares in JB Hi-Fi Limited
(ASX:JBH) have risen 3.29 per cent and trading at $24.81. Shares in Tabcorp Holdings Limited
(ASX:TAH) and Automotive Holdings Group Limited
(ASX:AHG) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Materials, which is flat at 10,002. Shares in South32 Limited
(ASX:S32) have fallen 2.85 per cent, trading at $2.73. Shares in Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited
(ASX:SAR) and Northern Star Resources Ltd
(ASX:NST) are also lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,211 an ounce and the Australian dollar is buying 76.05 US cents.
