Trump card Thursday: Aus shares close 0.3% higher

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

The Australian share market spent the day slowly climbing to finish with a gain of 0.3 per cent despite only seeing half the amount of trades the ASX200 normally sees.

But it wasn’t without a few falls off the rung on the back of profit taking. Retail Food Group (ASX:RFG) again caught investors eyes and was sold down, which left it with a 5.6 per cent drop.

Investors also sold down property funds like Stockland Group (ASX:SGP) which fell about 1.8 per cent and industrials like of Sydney Airports (ASX:SYD) which fell about 1.7 per cent.

On the flip slide, traders were buying into large caps like TPG Telecom (ASX:TPM) which rose 2.6 per cent, and South32 (ASX:S32) which gained 1.8 per cent.

Bitcoin has continued to fall and is now below US$15,000, 25 per cent off its US$20,000 mark high on 17 December 2017.

At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 18 points up, or 0.3 per cent higher to finish at 6,088.

The value of trades was $2.5 billion on volume of 344 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) BHP Billiton Limited (ASX:BHP) and National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB).

On the futures market the SPI is 22 points up.

Ccompany news 

The Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) has raised $350 million, after it closed its 3.5 million capital note issue at $100 a note. The bank received strong demand and had to raise the size of the offer from its initial $325 million raise. The notes were issued today (28 December 2017) and will start trading tomorrow of a deferral settlement basis. Its shares in closed 0.63 per cent higher at $12.75.

Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (ASX:AJD) has offered NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) the sale of its $300 million portfolio and given it 20 business days to exercise its right of refusal. Its shares gained 5 per cent today.

And Cardno (ASX:CDD) has advised the passing of the the passing of Tax Cuts and the Job Act by the US government should drop its deferred tax assets by US$28 million. Its shares closed flat.

And Aurelia Metals (ASX:AMI) closed its capital raise via its share purchase plan after it received about $5.9 million in applications. Its share gained 1.9 per cent.

Best and worst performers of the day

About 80 per cent of the major sectors closed in the black.

The best performing sector was Telcos adding almost 1 per cent to close at 1,326.
The worst performing sector was Utilites, shedding 0.5 per cent to close at 8,310 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Greencross (ASX:GXL), rising 4.8 per cent to close at $6.29. Shares in Speedcast International (ASX:SDA) and Breville Group Limited (ASX:BRG) also closed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Retail Food Group Limited (ASX:RFG), dropping 5.6 per cent to close at $2.37. Shares in Eclipx Group Limited (ASX:ECX) and APA Group (ASX:APA) also closed lower.

Asian markets

Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.01 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.5 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,291 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.38 lower at $US59.59 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.91 US cents.

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin has fallen 12 per cent to $14,797
Ethereum lost 6 per cent to $733
And Litecoin has lost about 11 per cent to $256.

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter?

Would you like to receive our daily news to your inbox?