Telstra tolls: Aus shares 0.05% lower at noon

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

Following positive leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market opened higher erasing some of yesterday’s losses.

But with over 10 top 200 companies going ex-dividend today the local bourse has been under a bit of pressure and unable to press ahead in the first two hours of trade, with the charts looking like a yo-yo trail.

Telstra is leading the decliners after it went ex-dividend today, while it also announced plans to monetise its NBN receipts have reached a road block. So no surprises that Telcos are dragging down the market, with minor selling in Financials and Healthcare.

Despite that, over half of the sectors are seeing green.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 3 points down or 0.05 per cent lower at 5,666.

On the futures market the SPI is 13 points higher.

Asian markets

Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.55 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.8 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.2 per cent.

Local economic news 

Dwellings approvals rose 0.7 per cent in July 2017, in trend terms, and have risen for three months, according the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Meantime, total trend construction work 'done' rose 0.6 per cent in the June quarter 2017.

Company news

Telstra (ASX:TLS) has proposed to monetise a portion of its locked-in reoccurring NBN receipts. The communications giant says although it will be valuable for shareholders to know the NBN dollar value, its ‘technical consents’ from NBN co will not be ‘forthcoming’. The proposal going ahead is subject to approvals and consent from investors, the Commonwealth Government and NBN co. Its shares is going ex-dividend today so are under pressure and are (ASX:TLS) are trading 5.73 per cent lower at $3.62.

Yellow Brick Road (ASX:YBR) has reported a maiden pre-tax profit of $2 million for the 2017 financial year. The investment management company’s revenue strengthened to $218.6 million for the full year, thanks to a almost 20 per cent rise in its loan book. Shares in Yellow Brick Road (ASX:YBR) are 7.69 per cent higher at $0.14.

To the best and worst performers

The best performing sector is Staples, gaining 1.00 per cent to 9,428. Shares in Graincorp Limited have risen 7.64 per cent and trading at $8.80. Shares in Blackmores Limited (ASX:BKL) and Asaleo Care Limited (ASX:AHY) are also stronger.

The worst performing sector is Telcos, falling 5.3 per cent to 1,273. Shares in Telstra Corporation (ASX:TLS) have fallen 5.73 per cent, trading at $3.62. Shares in Speedcast International Limited (ASX:SDA) and Chorus Limited (ASX:CNU) are also lower.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,312 an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 79.93 US cents.
 

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