Following positive leads, the Australian share market opened higher this morning and is now tracking 0.3 per cent up at noon. The positive mood from Wall St seems to have infected local traders, who pushed the market close above 5975 points earlier in the morning. A drop off soon followed, however the bourse is holding steady just under 5960 as we enter in to the afternoon trade.
News private equity is sniffing around Santos pushed the stock higher in the morning trade. There was also big news on the wagering front, with the ACCC giving its approval to a merger between Tabcorp and Tatts this morning.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is up 17 points up at 5961. On the futures market the SPI is 20 points higher.
Economic news The ABS has reported sales of new motor vehicles in October decreased by 0.4 per cent compared to September. Tasmania did buck the trend however, with sales growing month on month.
Short term visitor arrivals increased by 0.4 per cent in September, compared to August, continuing and upward trend for the year.
Company newsAfterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) has announced it has received approval from National Australia Bank to increase its existing warehouse funding facility from $200 million to $350 million. The term of the new facility will be 24 months, with the buy now pay later business indicating they represent and improvement with respect to both pricing and advance rates. The business has also announced the establishment of a New Zealand funding facility with ASB Bank, to facilitate the expansion of the Afterpay business in the Kiwi market. Shares in Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT)are trading 0.73 per cent higher at $5.54.
Mach7 Technologies Limited
(ASX:M7T) has announced Us based Sentara Healthcare has selected the company to handle data migration of their enterprise image management modernisation initiative. The deal is worth US$1.8 million, and will see over 20 million images migrated to Mach7’s Vendor Neutral Archive. Shares in Mach7 Technologies Limited
(ASX:M7T) are trading 7.89 per cent higher at $0.21.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Healthcare, gaining 0.7 per cent to 24,312. Shares in Healthscope
(ASX:HSO) have risen 1.35 per cent and trading at $1.88. Shares in Sonic Healthcare
(ASX:SHL) and CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Utilities, falling 0.6 per cent to 8557. Shares in APA Group
(ASX:APA) have fallen 0.88 per cent, trading at $8.98. Shares in Spark Infrastructure
(ASX:SKI) and AGL Energy Limited
(ASX:AGL) are also lower.
IPOs5GN Networks Limited
(ASX:5GN) started trading today. The network rollout and ICT services business floated with an issue price of $0.25, opened at $0.28 and is currently trading at $0.27.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,281 an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 75.84 US cents.
