It has been a positive day of trade for the Australian share market. After opening in the black the market traded sideways in the morning sessions before moving higher to close on or near its highs.
Almost all sectors closed higher, with Telcos the best performing up 0.8% and Utilities & Consumer Discretionary not far behind up & 0.7%.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 20 points up, or 0.34 per cent higher/lower to finish at 5,814. Over the week we gained 104 points
The value of trades was $4.3 billion on volume of 584 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Westpac Banking Corporations Limited
(ASX:WBC), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and BHP BillitonLimited
(ASX:BHP).
On the futures market the SPI is 38 points up.
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 1.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.03 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.15 per cent.
Let’s check in with how Wall Street wrapped higher for the four trading days this week
The Dow Jones added 0.29 per cent, The S&P 500 added 0.06 per cent and the tech heavy Nasdaq gained 0.02 per cent, while the 100 index added 0.09 per cent.
Company newsSouth32 has concluded its review of its underperfoming Illawara Metallurgical Coal operations at its Appin mine where its longwall utilisation rates were below industry average. The now completed remedial action follows a staged ramp that occurred during September. Shares in South32 closed flat at $3.23
Internet of Things (IoT) Data Cloud Platform provider Buddy Platform
(ASX:BUD) has reached an agreement with Australia’s leading national electrical service provider, Skybridge. The agreement provides its leading product’s customers will installation and maintenance services,
And Intellectual Property service provider Xenith IP
(ASX:XIP) has completed two purchases (of Watermark and Griffith Hack) but financially fallen short of first quarter revenue and earnings expectations for 2018. Xenith IP is now expecting its EBITDA to fall between $18 million and $22 million.
Trustee company, EQT Holdings
(ASX:EQT) has inked a deal to buy a majority stake (60 per cent) of UK fund governance provider, Treasury Capital.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Telcos adding 0.75 per cent to close at 1,241. The worst performing sector was REITS, shedding 0.13 per cent to close at 1,324. points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Galaxy Resources Limited
(ASX:GXY), rising 5.10 per cent to close at $3.30. Shares in HT&E Limited
(ASX:HT1) and Bega Cheese Limited
(ASX:BGA) also closed higher. The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was IPH Limited
(ASX:IPH), dropping 2.68 per cent to close at $5.45. Shares in ALS Limited
(ASX:ALQ) and Independence Group NL
(ASX:IGO) also closed lower.
CommoditiesGold is trading at $US1,297 an ounce. Light crude is $0.53 down at $US51.07 barrel. One Australian dollar is buying 78.35 US cents.
