Australian share market is enjoying its second day of trade back above pre-GFC highs with most of the market pushing higher. It comes as the Dow and the tech heavy Nasdaq on Wall Street closed at record highs and iron lift price lifted about 1.7 per cent overnight, leaving investors in the material space here smiling.
Kidman Resources
(ASX:KDR) has gained over 8.4 per cent, Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL) has added around 2.6 per cent. While Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) is leading Forstecue
(ASX:FMG) and BHP
(ASX:BHP).
The only sector that’s trading below the line is Telcos, while NAB
(ASX:NAB) is the only big four trading in negative territory after it went ex-dividend and is paying 99 cents fully franked.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 15 points up or 0.25 per cent higher at 6,031.
On the futures market the SPI is 24 points higher.
Economic news Housing finance has fallen 3.6 per cent to $32.5 billion in September, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.It comes as the value of investment property lending and owner-occupied home loans both fell, surprising the market, which saw the ASX200 push higher.
Company newsSoftware company, Xero
(ASX:XRO) is set to join the ASX200 club. As part of consolidating its listings, it will de-list from the NZ Stock Exchange. At the same time it also reported its revenues rose 37 per cent to $187.8 million, while it also recorded positive EBITDA of $5.4 million over the half financial year. The company says having a sole listing on the ASX will not only increase its liquidity but give it access to larger investors. Shares in Xero
(ASX:XRO) are trading 4.1 per cent lower at $29.69.
And Flight Centre Travel
(ASX:FLT) says despite coming across headwinds in early 2017 it’s expecting a stronger FY18 with some of its division trading at record highs. It’s expecting its half year profits will be 6-19 per cent stronger than 1HFY17 and it should see $120-135 million in profits before tax. Shares in Flight Centre Travel
(ASX:FLT) are trading about 1.1 per cent higher at $47.06.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Materials gaining 0.9 per cent to 11,207. Shares in Nufarm
(ASX:NUF) have risen 5.57 per cent and trading at $9.20. Shares in James Hardie Industries
(ASX:JHX) and Sims Metal Management (ASX: SGM) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Telcos falling 0.2 per cent to 1,240. Shares in Speedcast International
(ASX:SDA) have fallen about 0.6 per cent, trading at $4.70. Shares in Spark New Zealand
(ASX:SPK) and Telstra Corporation
(ASX:TLS) are also lower.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,281 an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 76.66 us cents.
