The Australian share market has broken above 5,900 for the first time in a month with the ASX200 rising for the second day this week. The market has really shaken off two days of negative leads from Wall Street.
Most of the sectors are trading higher today with the miners being the only sector trading in the red after Aluminium fell 0.4 per cent on Monday. While the iron ore price rose 0.9 per cent to US$67.67 and its futures are pointing to a rise of 1.16 per cent. South32
(ASX:S32) dropped over 8 per cent, Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) lost over 3 per cent and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) shed almost 2 per cent.
It comes as the US dollar against the Euro lost ground.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 24 points up at 5910. On the futures market the SPI is 17 points higher.
local economic newsInflation data came out from the ABS today with CPI, or the Consumer Price Index rising 0.4 per cent in the March quarter, less than the expected 0.5 per cent lift. It also follows the December quarter’s stronger lift of 0.6 per cent.
Company newsMYOB
(ASX:MYO) shares are trading higher today with the company in the midst of share buyback. It’s already bought back $21 million in share but says it may still buy back 24 million shares. MYOB is trading 2.04 per cent higher to $3.25
Medicinal cannabis company, AusCann
(ASX:AC8) and its majority shareholder, Canopy Growth Corporation are ramping up to become the leading providers of medical cannabis products in Australia. AusCann has received an import permit and will soon receive finished cannabis oils from Canopy Growth. The companies are also planning to enter a collaborative distribution deal that would see both parties selling both their products to the Australian market. And beyond that, AusCann will distribute products through its network, beyond its distribution agreement with Australian Pharmaceutical Industrials
(ASX:API). It comes as AusCann advised it is scaling up its medical liaison team and building an independent clinical network to educate doctors about its medical cannabis products. Shares in Auscann are trading up 9.31 per cent at $1.58.
IPOsL1 Long Short Fund
(ASX:LSF) started trading today. The absolute return fund, offering investors a highly diversified portfolio of long and short positions floated with an issue price of $2, opened at $1.99 and is trading at $1.99 and a half.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is discretionaries adding 1.3 per cent to 2261 points while the worst performing sector is materials, shedding 1.5 per cent to 11790 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Speedcast
(ASX:SDA), rising 3.83 per cent to $5.70, followed by shares in Altium
(ASX:ALU) and CYBG
(ASX:CYB).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Boral
(ASX:BLD), dropping 8.63 per cent to $6.88, followed by shares in South 32
(ASX:S32) and Alumina
(ASX:AWC).
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 1.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,327 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 76.06 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher:
Bitcoin trades at US$9172, Ethereum trades at US$669 and Bitcoin Cash is 22 per cent higher at US$1541.
