The Australian share market closed flat today At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.2 points higher to finish at 5,842. The resources sector has been performing well for April setting miners up for a year of share prices gains. These gains come after some sharp falls in share prices fir the sector in February and March.
As for the sectors Telcos were the best performers with Telstra leading the pack - Utlities were the worst. Saracen Mineral Holdings is the best performer on the market currently up 5.6 per cent. AMP is down 3.7 per cent following their questioning in the Financial Services Royal Commission. Oil is up but gold has dropped this afternoon.
On the futures market the Dow futures are suggesting a 105 point rise. And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 9.0 point gain.
The value of trades was $4.4 billion on volume of 598 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were healthcare stock CSL
(ASX:CSL) BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA)Local economic newsCorporate regulator ASIC found that financial services giant AMP made false statements about fees it charged customers for advice not given, according to evidence in the Financial Services Royal Commission.
A senior AMP has confirmed a long list of letters, emails and reports showing that the company tried to keep significant information from ASIC.
At last count, the royal commission had identified 20 false or misleading statements by AMP. Reagan had agreed that each instance was either false or misleading.
In other local news The Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes of their April 2018 Monetary Policy meeting earlier today. 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 news Gold junior Red 5
(ASX:RED) has updated the details of its hostile takeover bid unlisted public company Bullseye Mining.
Bullseye shareholders have been offered 1 fully-paid ordinary share in Red 5 for every 5 Bullseye Shares they hold.
The company announced their plans for the takeover back in February.
Bullseye is an unlisted public company whose Western Australian- based gold portfolio includes the Laverton Project,
Shares in Red 5
(ASX:RED) closed 1.5 per cent higher at $0.07
Other company headlinesDowner EDI
(ASX:DOW) has won a $660 million dollar contract with OZ Minerals to provide mining services.
The agreement will see Downer supply underground mining services at the Carrapateena mine in South Australia from the 1st of July (2018).
The Bank of Queensland
(ASX:BOQ) has inked a deal to sell its St Andrews insurance business to Freedom
(ASX:FIG)insurance group for $65 million. The company has also reported an 8 per cent rise in first half net profit to $174m.
Medical 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.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was telcos adding 0.7 per cent to close at 1145.
The worst performing sector was utilities shedding 0.7 per cent to close at 7383 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was SARACEN MINERAL HOLDINGS
(ASX:SAR), rising 5.6 per cent to close at $1.90. Shares in Webjet
(ASX:WEB) and Whitehaven Coal followed higher
(ASX:WHC) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was AMP
(ASX:AMP), dropping 4.4 per cent to close at $4.55. Shares in Platinum Asset Management
(ASX:PTM) and Galaxy Resources
(ASX:GXY) followed lower.
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite haslost 0.8 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Iron Ore Futures saw 1.6 per cent fall
Gold is trading at $US1,347 an ounce.
Light crude is $1 lower at $US66.33 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.75 US cents.
Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin is trading at US$7999, Ethereum US$506 and Cardarno $0.26.
