Solid finish: Aus shares close 0.79% higher

Market Reports

by Carolyn Herbert

It has been a positive end to the trading session for the Australian share market, which gained momentum in afternoon trade and ended up closing the day 0.79 per cent higher. The financials space was the biggest driver of gains this session, with a significant bounce of more than 3 per cent in all of the big four banks. The Materials space along with Telcos weighed on the index today with falls in the big miners and telco heavyweight Telstra (ASX:TLS).

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 45 points up to finish at 5,732.

The value of trades was $6 billion on volume of 765 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) and ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ).

On the futures market the SPI is 48 points up.

Asian markets

Taking a look at how Asian markets are tracking in afternoon trade. The Nikkei is 0.14 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.41 per cent higher and the Shanghai Composite is 0.83 per cent higher.

Company news

Orocobre Limited (ASX:ORE) has released its production results for the June quarter, saying production at Olaroz came in at 2,536 tonnes of lithium. Full year production of 11,862 tonnes was 72 per cent higher than the previous year. FY17 sales revenue for the lithium producer came in at US$120 million. Shares in Orocobre Limited closed 6.18 per cent lower at $3.34.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) along with the other big banks, says it is comfortable with the new Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital position regulatory target as outlined by APRA.

BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) has reported its iron ore production rose 4 per cent in FY17, compared to the prior period, reflecting improvements across its supply chain.

Insurance Australia Group, IAG (ASX:IAG) has announced the creation of a single Australian division with immediate effect.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Financials excluding REITs adding 2.44 per cent to close at 7,332. The worst performing sector was Telcos, losing 1.41 per cent to close at 1,452 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was CIMIC Group (ASX:CIM), rising 5.75 per cent to close at $41.03. Shares in ANZ (ASX:ANZ) and Westpac (ASX:WBC) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Orocobre (ASX:ORE), dropping 6.18 per cent to close at $3.34. Shares in St Barbara (ASX:SBM) and NextDC Limited (ASX:NXT) also closed lower.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,242 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.21 higher at $US46.44 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7946.





 

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