The Australian Share Market opened in positive territory, with the ASX 200 rising for the third day straight thanks to political tensions simmering. Stocks rallied on Wall Street after the US led missile strike in Syria at the weekend.
As for the sectors Telcos were the best performers with Telstra leading the pack - Utlities were the worst.
Iron Ore has dropped 1.6 per cent to $63.93 per tonne.
Commodities strengthened with oil and gold on the rise – although gold did see a small dip earlier.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 10 points up or 0.2 per cent at 5,852. On the futures market the SPI is 13 points higher.
Local economic newsThe Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes of their April 2018 Monetary Policy meeting. The Board decided that holding the stance of monetary policy unchanged at this meeting would be consistent with sustainable growth in the economy and achieving the inflation target over time. The cash rate will be left unchanged at 1.5 per cent.
Company newsMedical technology company Impedimed
(ASX:IPD) has announced that the US FDA has just cleared their scan technology SOZO – for the assessment of lymphoedema patients.
The Brisbane based company says this clearance expands the available market for their technology. Of the approximately one million new cancer cases per year in the US alone, many survivors are at risk of limb lymphoedema.
SOZO assesses the patients risk of bilateral lymphoedema where a patient is at risk in either both arms or legs.
Shares in Impedimed
(ASX:IPD) are up 1.5 per cent to 68 cents
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Telcos adding 0.6 per cent at 1144
The worst performing sector was Utlities , shedding 0.2 per cent at 7418 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Saracen mineral holdings
(ASX:SAR), rising 4.7 per cent to close at $1.88. Shares in Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG) and Orocobre
(ASX:ORE) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was AMP
(ASX:AMP), dropping 3.78 per cent to close at $4.58. Shares in Arden leisure group
(ASX:AAD) and Perpetual
(ASX:PPR) followed lower.
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.1per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.03 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 1.3 per cent
Gold is trading at $US1,347.46 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.75 US cents.
Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin has fallen 2.8 per cent to US$8038, Ethereum has fallen about 3.1per cent to US$509 and Cardarno has gained about 14 per cent to US$0.25.
