The Australian share market is pushing higher, was 0.39 per cent up at midday. A lot of the positive sentiment came from Wall Street, after the Dow Jones closed at a record high when The Fed left US interest rates on hold, while Boeing shares rose over 9 per cent. In addition to that, the Australian dollar against the greenback has strengthened again and is buying over 80 US cents.
If you looked at the charts though in the first two hours of trade, the local bourse shot up at the open, quickly back tracked, but it’s now on the rise again.
On the sector front, Materials are leading the charge, followed by gains in Staples and Reits. Boart Longyear
(ASX:BLY) has gained over 12.5 per cent, while BHP
(ASX:BHP) is trading about 1.4 per cent higher and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) is up over half a per cent. Bucking the upward trend, are the Energy and HealthCare spaces which are trading lower.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 23 points up at 5,799.
On the futures market the SPI is 21 points higher.
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.15 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has rose 0.31 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has fallen 0.18 per cent.
Local economic newsThe ABS has revealed the Export Price Index fell 5.7 per cent in the June 2017 quarter, driven by coal and iron ore price movements. It follows of rise of 8.8 per cent in March quarter.
For the year though to the June 2017 quarter, exports prices rose 22.5 per cent, fuelled by mineral fuels, lubricants price rises.
On the import price front, import prices fell 0.1 per cent in the June 2017 quarter. Meantime, the Import Price Index rose 0.3 per cent, for the year to the June 2017 quarter.
Company newsBeach Energy
(ASX:BPT) has reported record production for the full year ending 30 June 2017 of 10.6 million barrels of oil equivalents (MMboe), which is a 9 per cent rise on the prior’s years production. The oil and gas explorer and producer says it closed the 2017 financial year with close to $700 million of available liquidity, which shows it has a strengthened platform for growth. Beach Energy also announced its capital expenditure guidance for FY18 will be between $220 and $260 million. Meantime, its targeting 10 to 10.6 million barrels of oil equivalents (MMboe) in production for FY18. Shares in Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) are trading 0.72 per cent lower at $0.69.
IOOF Holdings
(ASX:IFL) has announced it received net flows of $2.2 billion in funds under management, administration and advice (FUMA) for the last quarter of the 2017 financial year. The financial services firm’s total funds under management, administration and advice (FUMA) hit $115 billion as at 30 June 2017. IOOF says it saw extremely strong growth in funds under advice thanks its adviser network, which has been bolstered by new advisers joining the group. Shares in IOOF Holdings
(ASX:IFL) are trading 0.25 per cent lower at $9.79.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Materials, gaining 0.85 per cent to 10,184. Shares in St Barbara Limited
(ASX:SBM) have risen 5.73 per cent and trading at $2.77. Shares in Resolute Mining Limited
(ASX:RSG) and South32 Limited
(ASX:S32) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Energy, falling 0.71 per cent to 8,714. Shares in Origin Energy Limited
(ASX:ORG) have fallen 1.37 per cent, trading at $6.83. Shares in Santos Limited
(ASX:STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited
(ASX:WPL) are also lower.
IPOsConvenience Retail REIT (ASX: CRR) started trading today. The investment fund owns 66 service station and convenience retail assets valued at $308 million. The occupancy rate is 99.4 per cent. CRR floated with an issue price of $3.00, opened at $3.00 and is currently trading at $3.00
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,264 an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 80.38 US cents.
