Flat end to the day: Aus shares close 0.12% lower

Market Reports

by Kathy Skantzos

It has been a weak day of trade for the Australian share market today. After opening on a high the local bourse managed to lose momentum through the day.

Telecoms is still the worst performing sector at the end of the day, as it was earlier. Telstra finished 1.7 per cent lower. QBE continued to be a weak performer today, bringing down Financials.

Energy and Materials performed well, with Whitehaven Coal, Mineral Resources, Fortescue and Boral all up, while Galaxy Resources was in decline.

Tabcorp was also lower after the Tribunal hearings for the Tatts and Tabcorp combination were announced.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 7 points lower, or 0.12 per cent, to finish at 5,664.

The value of trades was $4.7 billion on volume of 703 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) and ANZ (ASX:ANZ).

On the futures market the SPI is 15 points lower.

Asian markets

Japan’s is 0.38 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.4 per cent higher and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.13 per cent.

Local economic news

Australia’s consumer confidence dropped slightly after strengthening the previous week. The ANZ Roy Morgan research released yesterday showed the index fell from 114.8 to 114.1.

Company news

360 Capital Group (ASX:TGP) has responded today to NEXTDC’s announcement yesterday that the takeover bid for the Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (ASX:AJD) was hasty and has inherent funding risks. 360 Capital refuted these claims, saying this statement is misleading and added its offer is fully funded. The property investment and funds management group said it instructed its broker to purchase the securities on market up to the offer price of $1.95 per security. Shares in 360 Capital Group (ASX:TGP) are sitting flat at $0.96 per share.

Afterpay (ASX:APT) has partnered with Wesfarmers-owned national retailer Target to offer its buy now, pay later payment service to online customers.

Centuria (ASX:CNI) has announced its wholly owned subsidiary Centuria Property Funds has sold an entity for more than $270 million.

Xref (ASX:XF1) today announced details of three new integration partnerships with Workday, Equifax and Zapier.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Materials adding 0.46 per cent to close at 10,294.

The worst performing sector was Telcos, shedding 1.2 per cent to close at 1,228 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Myer (ASX:MYR), rising 6.9 per cent to close at $0.78. Shares in Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC), dropping 4.26 per cent to close at $1.35. Shares in Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY) and Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) also closed lower.

Commodities

Gold is trading at $US1,295 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.13 lower at $US52.09 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 78.66 US cents.

 

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