Midday: Yo-yo start to Thursday, Aus shares 0.14% higher at noon

Market Reports

by Liz Pal

The Australian share market opened higher today following record leads from Wall Street, with the three major US indices all hitting fresh record highs. However, the local bourse has seen a bit yo-yo action in the first two hours of trade with selling in Reits, Staples and Financials.
In good news though for investor today, half of the sectors are in the black.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 8 points up at 5, 660 points.

On the futures market the SPI is 13 points higher.

Local economic news

The ABS released International trade data, reporting a trade surplus widening 22 per cent to $0.99 billion in August 2017, from July’s $0.81billion and consensus of $875 million. Exports of non-rural good fell 3 per cent, mainly due to other mineral fuels and metal ores falling. However exports of rural goods rose 2 per cent, driven by wool and sheepskins. In comparison, imports of goods and services declined by 1 per cent to $30.61 billion

The ABS also released retail sales figures for August 2017. It’s the consecutive month retail sales have fallen, with August diving 0. 6 per cent following June’s 0.2 per cent fall.
Retailers that were hit the most were restaurants and household goods, while in contrast cafes rebounded 0.7 percent from -2.6 per cent.

Company news

EML Payments (ASX:EML), the payment provider, has inked a multi-year deal with a outsourced payroll and accounting service company, InfoSync Services. InfoSync provides services to almost 8,000 restaurant in the US. The agreement allows the US business to refer clients to EML for virtual payments. The American firm also plans to integrate EML’s B2B payments and purchasing card solution. Shares in EML Payments (ASX:EML) are trading up 7.84 per cent at $2.20.

And the ASX (ASX:ASX) reported that the value of ASX-Listed stocks fell 0.5 per cent in September, according to the All Ordinaries Index. The ASX also saw more listings in September [12], compared to the same month last year [5]. The total capital raised on the ASX jumped 139 per cent compared to the prior corresponding period, to about $8 billion [$7.9 billion] Shares in ASX (ASX:ASX) are trading up 0.44 per cent at $52.50.


Best and worst performers

The best performing sector is materials, 0.98 per cent higher to 10,419 points. Shares in Bluescope Steel have risen 3.8 per cent and trading at $11.30. Shares in Galaxy Resources and St Barbara are also stronger.

The worst performing sector is Financials, falling 0.2 per cent to 6, 367. Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank have fallen 1.35 per cent, trading at $11.37. Shares in BT Investment Management and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia are also lower.

Gold and the dollar

Gold is trading at $1,275US an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 78.38US cents.


 

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