Following positive leads from Wall Street with Dow Jones breaking its 4-day losing streak, the Australian share market opened higher and was tracking 0.07 per cent up at noon.
Before the market open, the iron ore price lost 0.4 per cent, but in the first two hours of trade it’s now lost 3 per cent which is dragging down the big miners. BHP
(ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) are trading in the red, with Fortescue
(ASX:FMG) falling the hardest.
On the flip slide, over half of our sectors are charging up and seeing green with utilities leading the way with AGL
(ASX:AGL) shares trading over 2 per cent higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 3 points up at 5,668.
On the futures market the SPI is 11 points higher.
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.33 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.08 per cent.
Company newsInvoCare
(ASX:IVC) is set to see a bolstered profit from the sale of a Sydney office building. The funeral home and cemetery business says it will include Centuria Property Funds (Centuria Capital
(ASX:CNI) ) office sale of $270 million in its 2017 after tax profit. The property, 10 Spring Street, Sydney was acquired in 2013 for $91 million, by an unlisted property trust, which InovCare’s funeral fund had a 50.1 per cent interest in. Shares in InvoCare
(ASX:IVC) are trading 0.26 per cent lower at $15.57.
Air New Zealand
(ASX:AIZ) has announced its 2018 capacity will increase from 4 to 6 per cent, by growing its Pacific Islands, Tasman and long-haul businesses. As part of its annual meeting address, the firm also advised it re-elected two board members. It also advised its shareholder return outperformed the market over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years. It comes Air New Zealand also saw its second highest earnings before tax in 2017. Shares in Air New Zealand
(ASX:AIZ) are trading 2.7 per cent higher at $3.04
The best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Utilites, gaining 0.72 per cent to 7,983. Shares in Infigen Energy
(ASX:IFN) have risen 3.38 per cent and trading at $0.77. Shares in AGL Energy Limited
(ASX:AGL) and Spark Infrastructure Group
(ASX:SKI) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Materials, falling 0.44 per cent to 10,249. Shares in Saracen Mineral Holdings
(ASX:SAR) have fallen 4.03 per cent, trading at $1.31. Shares in Fortescue Metals Group
(ASX:FMG) and Regis Resources
(ASX:RRL) are also lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,283 an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 78.30 US cents.
