It has been a positive day of trade for the Australian share market. The local bourse saw a sharp rise at the open, following Wall Street’s lead, coupled with local pre-open reporting.
The local bourse maintained momentum throughout the session with stronger FY2017 results coming through, particularly from real estate investment trusts, like GPT
(ASX:GPT) and Charter Hall’s Retail Reit
(ASX:CQR), which saw REITs shine for most the of the day, closing 1.5 per cent up, while Telcos overtook as the lead heavyweight this Tuesday, climbing 1.7 per cent.
While mostly all sectors rallied ahead today, Energy saw the most selling after the oil price dropped overnight. On top of that, Santos
(ASX:STO) added to the sector’s woes with the company announcing it expects a US$690 million write down for its first half 2017 results.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 27 points up or 0.47 per cent higher to finish at 5,758.
The value of trades was $4.7 billion on volume of 664 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA), Dominos Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP) and ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ)On the futures market the SPI is 27 points up.
Asian marketsTokyo’s Nikkei is 1.17 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.28 per cent up and the Shanghai Composite is 0.33 per cent higher,
Local economic newsThe Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced this morning in its Bank Board Minutes that rate hikes are still some time way, as household debt levels have remained high, despite the economy, employment and wages continuing to strengthen.
We also had the ABS report stronger car sales in trend terms today, which rose 0.7 per cent, thanks to a kick from sporty vehicle sales.
Company newsPhileo Australia
(ASX:PHI) has advised the sale of its residential subdivision site in Mambourin, Victoria is now unconditional. The company will receive $400 million over 4 and-a-half years, with final settlement booked for February 2022. It comes as the purchaser, Country Garden Mambourin received Foreign Investment Review Board approval. Shares in Phileo Australia
(ASX:PHI) last traded at $12.10.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP) has announced a 28.8 percent increase on its net profit after tax, while it failed to meet its own targets for profit and predicted softer growth in the coming year.
GPT Group
(ASX:GPT) announced its half yearly net profit after tax rose 28.3 per cent to $752.3 million.
And finally, Challenger
(ASX:CGF) reported record 2017 financial year results, on the back of stronger assets under management with its statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) climbing over 20 per cent to $398 million.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Telcos adding 1.7 per cent to close at 1,490. The worst performing sector was Energy, losing 0.9 per cent to close at 8,689 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was NEXTDC Limited
(ASX:NXT), rising 4.73 per cent to close at $4.43. Shares in Breville Group Limited
(ASX:BRG) and Australian Agricultural Company Limited
(ASX:AAC) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock on the S&P/ASX 200 was Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited
(ASX:DMP), dropping 18.8 per cent to close at $41.50. Shares in Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited
(ASX:GMA) and Flexigroup Limited
(ASX:FXL) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,274 an ounce.
Light crude is $1.31 down at $US47.66 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying 78.48 US cents.
