The Australian share market surged up at the open following record leads from Wall Street and is now tracking 0.3 per cent higher at noon.
Just in the first 10 minutes of trade we gained about 0.5 per cent but lost momentum with profit taking in some sectors putting a cap on gains. Challenger sold down some of its major holding in satellite company, Speedcast
(ASX:SDA) as the telco company trades at an all time high.
While NEXTDC
(ASX:NXT) is also seeing a bit of selling, along with Nanosonics
(ASX:NAN), Carsales
(ASX:CAR), Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG) and Bega Cheese
(ASX:BGA), all holding back gains in the broader market.
Propelling the ASX forth is again the materials and mining sector, with gains of over a per cent, thanks to gold and lithium companies jet packing forth. Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) is leading the large cap stocks in the sector, while some not-so household names like Argosy Minerals
(ASX:AGY) have gained 12.5 per cent, followed by other lithium companies like Tawana Resources
(ASX:TAW).
While the property sector and energy space are seeing a bit of profit taking, taking the two sectors in and out of red territory.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 17 points up or 0.3 per cent higher at 6,087. On the futures market the SPI is 22 points higher.
Company news Sydney Airport’s
(ASX:SYD) new CEO, Geoff Culbert took the hot seat at the helm for his first day today. He joined the company after a long career at GE. It comes as Kerrie Mather retired as CEO and MD and will support Geoff’s transition until she leaves at the end of January. Shares in Sydney Airport are trading about 1 per cent lower at $6.70
Fractional property ownership company, DomaCom
(ASX:DCL) is taking crowdfunding mainstream by integrating Domain’s property listings onto its platform so DomaCom investors have access to property listing data and better analytics. The company says the collaboration will help target the consumer market directly and scale up its campaign in targeting Gen Y and Millennials. Shares in DomaCom are trading flat at $0.12.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Materials adding 1.2 per cent to 12,133 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Evolution Mining Limited
(ASX:EVN), its 4.88 per cent higher at $2.69. Shares in Orocobre
(ASX:ORE) and St Barbara
(ASX:SBM) are following, as the second and third best performers.
The worst performing sector was Telcos, gaining 0.6 per cent to 1,338 points.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is NEXTDC Limited
(ASX:NXT), are trading 4.53 per cent lower at $5.69. Shares in Retail Food Group Limited
(ASX:RFG) and Nanosonics Limited
(ASX:NAN) also following as the second and third worst performers so far this session.
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,338 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 79.15 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin is 4.1 per cent lower at US$13,821
Ethereum is 0.44 per cent lower at US$1,384
And Litecoin is 9.19 per cent lower at US$240
