Marvellous leads & commodity push: Aus shares close 0.84% higher

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

It has been a stellar start to the trading week for the Australian share market following on from the Dow Jones recording its first eighth straight quarters of wins in 20 years.

Around midday the local bourse was 1.2 per cent higher, with all the sectors dancing high, but in afternoon trade, Telcos dipped into the red, and that saw our saw our bourse move out of single digit gains.

Materials led the charge today after the copper price propelled ahead. The likes of South32 (ASX:S32) gained almost 5 per cent, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) added over 2 per cent while Syrah Resources Limited (ASX:SYR), outperformed rising almost 8 per cent.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 48 points up, or 0.84 per cent higher to finish at 5,729.

The value of trades was $2.9 billion on volume of 435 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP).

On the futures market the SPI is 54 points up.

Local economic news

CoreLogic revealed Sydney property prices fell 0.1 per cent in September, while Hobart saw the most growth 1.7 per cent, followed by Melbourne with 0.9 per cent. Meantime, national prices grew 0.2 per cent last month and 8 per cent annually, with the median house price coming in around $541,000 [$540,647].

Company news 

Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX:SAR) has completed the sale of its King of the Hills gold mine in Western Australia, which resulted in receiving $7 million of upfront cash. The gold producer says the mine sale, to Red 5 (ASX:RED) also involves receiving 90 million Red 5 shares, escrowed over 12 months and $4.5 million in cash or Red 5 shares 12 months after completion. Saracen says the sale is consistent with its strategy of focusing on assets close to its processing facilities. Shares in Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX:SAR) closed flat at $1.31

CIMIC’s (ASX:CIM) UGL, has been awarded a contract to design and build stage one of the Bannerton 110 megawatt Solar Park in Victoria, which will generate about $133 million over 3 three-years for the company.

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) has completed an institutional entitlement offer, raising $201 million, which will partially fund the acquisition of Lattice Energy.

Quantify Technology (ASX:QFY) has signed a deal with Harvey Norman’s (ASX:HVN) largest franchisee, to promote and sell it technology products, which should generate $20 million to $30 million in annual sales for the tech business.

Best and worst performers of the day

The best performing sector was Materials adding 1.54 per cent to close at 10,421.
The worst performing sector was Telcos, shedding 0.65 per cent to close at 1,222. points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Syrah Resources Limited (ASX:SYR), rising 7.85 per cent to close at $3.71. Shares in Western Areas Limited (ASX:WSA) and Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX:GXY) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Metcash Limited (ASX:MTS), dropping 1.56 per cent to close at $2.52. Shares in Costa Group Holdings Limited (ASX:CGC) and The Star Entertainment Group Limited (ASX:SGR) also closed lower.

Commodities and the dollar 

Gold is trading at $US1,275 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.11 up at $US51.67 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 78.27 US cents.

 

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