It has been another record breaking day for Australian share market, with the ASX200 rallying above the 6,000 mark, pre-GFC highs. We not followed positive leads from Wall Street but were buoyed by a lift in iron price which left the miners cheering.
De Gray Mining
(ASX:DEG) gained about 11 per cent, Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL) added around 2 per cent. While Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) outperformed BHP
(ASX:BHP) and Forstecue Metals
(ASX:FMG) went the other way and into the red.
The only sector as a whole that closed below the line was Energy, with some investors and traders taking profits while the oil price is sitting around 2-year highs. That saw the likes of Santos
(ASX:STO) losing about 2.7 per cent and Whitehaven
(ASX:WHC) also closed lower.
NAB
(ASX:NAB) was the only big four that closed in negative territory, losing 3.4 per cent after it went ex-dividend, paying 99 cents fully franked.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 33 points up, or 0.55 per cent higher to finish at 6,049.
The value of trades was $6.2 billion on volume of 725 million shares at the close of trade.
The top three stocks by value were National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ).
On the futures market the SPI is 38 points up.
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.03 per cent.
Local economic newsHousing 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 news Poultry business, Inghams Group
(ASX:ING) told the market today that it made an administrative oversight, in not disclosing if some of its newly appointed directors had an interest in the company when they were appointed. Nevertheless, none of the mentioned directors who were appointed had an interest in the company. But, the director share ownership non-disclosure dated back to 2013. Other director appointments are from this year in April, September and October. Shares Inghams Group
(ASX:ING) closed 2.72 per cent lower at $3.58.
And cancer screening start up, Volpara Health Technology
(ASX:VHT) has seen its sales, revenue and gross profits rise over the half year to 30 September, but it has still remained in net loss territory. Its shares closed 1.54 per cent lower at $0.64.
Flight Centre Travel
(ASX:FLT) says despite headwinds in early 2017, it’s expecting a stronger FY18 with its half-year profits to grow 6-19 per cent on 1HFY17, taking its profits before tax to $120-135 million for the period.
Retail giant, Westfield
(ASX:WFD) saw its speciality revenue climb 8.4 per cent in the third quarter, with tis assets under management hitting $32.2 billion.
And Global property group Goodman Group
(ASX:GMG) has seen its occupancy rise to 98 per cent across its portfolio in the first quarter of FY2018, while its assets under management hit $33.9 billion. And because of its success it says it’s on track to grow EPS by 6 per cent on FY2017.
The best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Reits adding 1.4 per cent to close at 1,399.
The worst performing sector was Energy, shedding 0.2 per cent to close at 10,363. points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was James Hardie Industries
(ASX:JHX), rising 7.6 per cent to close at $20.39. Shares in Navitas
(ASX:NVT) and Seven West Media
(ASX:SWM) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Alumina
(ASX:AWC), dropping 3.72 per cent to close at $2.33. Shares in Dominos Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP) and Myer Holdings
(ASX:MYR) also closed lower.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,284 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.38 lower at $US56.82 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 76.82 US cents.
