Following soft leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market traded lower in the morning session before recovering in the afternoon. Strength in energy stocks with the sector up 2.7% helped the market.
Healthcare fell the most after CSL
(ASX:CSL) forecast FY18 profit guidance came in at $1.4 to $1.55 billion. That news overshadowed its stronger FY17 results.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 28 points up to finish at 5,785.
The value of trades was $6.0 billion on volume of 776 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia Limited
(ASX:CBA), CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) and Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS).
On the futures market the SPI is 34 points up.
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has lost 0.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.68% and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.12%.
Economics newsThe ABS reported subdued wage growth for the June quarter with the Wage Price Index (WPI) rising just 0.5% seasonally adjusted, taking the yearly figures to 1.9%.
Company newsNational Veterinary Care Limited
(ASX:NVL) has announced the sale of its two emergency clinics. The company is planning to invest the proceeds into businesses with stronger EBIT. Shares in National Veterinary Care Limited
(ASX:NVL) closed 2.08% lower at $2.35
Origin Energy Limited
(ASX:ORG) reported its loss attributable to members rose to $2.2 billion in the 2017 financial year.
Sonic Healthcare Limited
(ASX:SHL) announced its profit after tax attributable to members fell 5.4% in the 2017 financial year to $428 million.
Seven West Media Limited
(ASX:SWM) revealed a $745 million loss after tax in the 2017 financial year after it recorded $990 million in write-downs.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Energy adding 2.7% to close at 8922.
The worst performing sector was Utilities, losing 0.5% to close at 8270 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Aveo Group Limited
(ASX:AOG), rising 11.11% to close at $2.70. Shares in Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited
(ASX:DMP) and ARB Corporation Limited
(ASX:ARB) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Pact Group Holdings Limited
(ASX:PGH), dropping 5.68% to close at $5.48. Shares in Suncorp Group Limited
(ASX:SUN) and Computershare Limited
(ASX:CPU) also closed lower.
IPOsPyrolyx AG
(ASX:PLX) started trading today. The company recovers ‘carbon black’ from end-of-life tyres for reintegration with virgin carbon black in new tyres. Pyrolyx
(ASX:PLX) floated with an issue price of $1.47, opened at $1.50 and closed at $1.47.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1,273 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.11 up at US$47.84 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 78.43 US cents.
