Despite a strong start to the trading day, the Australian share market lost a little of it momentum after lunch and ended up erasing some of its earlier gains and closing the day 0.49 per cent higher. Sectors were mostly mixed today with Energy doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, followed by Consumer Discretionaries and REITs. Weighing down the index was the Health Care and Telcos sectors.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 28 points up to finish at 5,765.
The value of trades was $4.9 billion on volume of 777 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Star Entertainment Group
(ASX:SGR), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC).
On the futures market the SPI is 4 points up.
Asian marketsTaking a look at how Asian markets are tracking in afternoon trade. The Nikkei is 0.19 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.02 per cent higher and the Shanghai Composite is 0.06 per cent lower.
US marketsLooking at Wall Street, US major indexes have risen over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average has added 0.64 per cent. The S&P 500 Index has added 0.93 per cent. The NASDAQ has added 1.93 per cent. The 100 Index has gained 2.36 per cent.
Company newsQube Holdings Limited
(ASX:QUB) has announced it has secured a 7 year $150 million term debt facility from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in relation to the development of Moorebank Logistics Park. CEFC has confirmed its commitment to the Moorebank project, saying the facility will save 110,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Construction of the first stage of the project is already underway with the import/export terminal and rail link to be completed by late next year. Shares in Qube Holdings Limited closed 1.15 per cent up at $2.65.
Growthpoint Properties Australia
(ASX:GOZ) has exchanged contracts to buy 4 modern industrial warehouses at Perth Airport for $46 million.
Pioneer Credit Limited
(ASX:PNC) is expecting to report net profit after tax (NPAT) of $10.7 million for the financial year ending 30 June 2017.
Countplus Limited
(ASX:CUP) has announced three of its member firms have been sold and two others merged, following an extensive strategic review of the company.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Energy adding 2.12 per cent to close at 8,789. The worst performing sector was Health Care, losing 0.5 per cent to close at 23,208 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Worley Parsons
(ASX:WOR), rising 6.89 per cent to close at $11.33. Shares in Domino’s Pizza
(ASX:DMP) and Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST), dropping 6.24 per cent to close at $4.51. Shares in St Barbara
(ASX:SBM) and Qantas
(ASX:QAN) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,218 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.61 higher at $US46.27 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7757.
