The Australian share market had a positive day of trade and a solid finish for the week with the ASX200 hitting one-year highs.
The local bourse opened in the black following record leads from Wall Street and pushed higher with most sectors excepts telcos charging up. But selling in staples in the afternoon put a lid on gains. A2 Milk
(ASX:A2M) lost over 3.8 per cent while Bellamy’s Australia
(ASX:BAL) shed 3.3 per cent.
Materials, Utilities, REITs, Energy and Industrials saw the most steam with BHP
(ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) extending their rally from yesterday.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 28 points up, or 0.47 per cent higher to finish at 5,960. Over the week we gained 57 points.
The value of trades was $4.8 billion on volume of 622 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Amcor Limited
(ASX:AMC), National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) and BHP Billiton
(ASX:BHP).
On the futures market the SPI is 16 points up.
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei is closed due to Culture Day public holiday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.31 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.7 per cent.
Wall Street The Dow Jones added 0.4 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.05 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.2 per cent, while the 100 index added 0.4 per cent.
Economic newsRetail spending was flat in September according to the ABS, which saw the likes of Adairs
(ASX:ADH) and Flight Centre
(ASX:FLT) close higher.
Company newsTower
(ASX:TWR) informed the market it will release its full year results for the year ending 30 September 2017 in just a few weeks, on 14 November 2017. It announced it will only be holding its investor briefing via teleconference and webcast. Tower
(ASX:TWR) closed 0.68 per cent lower at $0.72
Manufacturer and distributor of timber and building products Big River Industries
(ASX:BRI) has inked a deal to buy Ern Smith Timber and Hardware at Hume in the ACT. The trade business it’s buying has revenues of $8 million per annum, but Big River Industries expects that to grow. While the purchase is not material to shareholders, it will be earnings per share accretive. Shares in Big River Industries
(ASX:BRI) closed flat at $2.30.
NZ telecommunications giant Spark New Zealand
(ASX:SPK) says while its outgoing Chair passes the baton to Justine Smyth, the company is in much better shape than it was five years ago. Despite revenues dropping from FY12 to FY17, its EBITDA remained around the billion dollar mark and its dividends increased by 25 per cent.
Zinc and coking coal mining company New Century Resources
(ASX:NCZ) is planning to raise $52.9 million through a fully underwritten institutional placement to restart its Lower Gulf of Carpentaria mine.
And Organic baby food company Bubs Australia
(ASX:BUB) announced a transformation agreement that will see it become Australia’s only vertically integrated producer of goat infant formulae. It comes as Bubs inked a deal to buy NuLac Foods for $25 million, with further payments of $13.4 million over the next 2 years.
IPOsJunior exploration company Tando Resources
(ASX:TNO) started trading today. It floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.35 and closed at $0.395.
TNT Mines
(ASX:TIN) also started trading today. It floated with an issue price of $0.20, opened at $0.26 and closed at $0.26.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Materials, adding 0.80 per cent to close at 11,032.
The worst performing sector was Staples, losing 0.10 per cent to close at 9,808 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR), rising 6.66 per cent to close at $6.25. Shares in Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) and Vocus Group
(ASX:VOC) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Mayne Pharma
(ASX:MYX), dropping 6.72 per cent to close at $0.63. Shares in A2 Milk
(ASX:A2M) and Aconex
(ASX:ACX) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,277 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.44 higher at $US54.74 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 76.92 US cents.
