The Australian share market started the trading week on the front foot with the property, miners and discretionary sectors leading the rally.
From the get go we had positive leads as Wall Street wrapped up Friday’s session higher as jobs growth exceeded expectations. The lithium price pushed 0.6 per higher and is already 1 per cent up this month, with Galaxy Resources
(ASX:GXY), Orocobre
(ASX:ORE), Mineral Resources
(ASX:MIN) claiming some of the best performing posts at noon.
As for the major miners, iron ore price pushed higher, rising 1.3 per cent to US$66.16, while its futures point to a dip of 0.8 per cent. We are seeing the likes of BHP
(ASX:BHP) makes modest gains, with it trading in a 3 per cent range of its 1-year high.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 43 points or 0.7 per cent higher at 6,033. On the futures market the SPI is 43 points higher.
Economic newsRetail sales rose 0.4 per cent in April, beating forecasts and market expectations. Sales in cafes, restaurants and takeaways led rise, following on from the prior month’s flat growth (0.0 per cent in March).
Company news Mortgage Choice
(ASX:MOC) has been in talks with its franchisees about a more competitive pay model for growth, as well as attracting new businesses to its network. The new model which will be handed down in July and will work on an opt-in basis from August 2018. Once finalised and approval it will be advised to the market, however at this stage it says the new model won’t affect FY2018 cash result. Shares in Mortgage Choice
(ASX:MOC) are trading 1.07 per cent higher at $1.90.
MYOB
(ASX:MYO) had a phone conference with investors and analysts today, including UBS, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, with CEO Tim Reed addressing why it did not got with the $180 million acquisition of Reckon. The CEO says the market that it operates in, is set to double, so it’s focused on converting SME business, and growing online subscribers. In fact its lifetime subscribers has grown by 40 per cent since 2015. Shares in MYOB
(ASX:MYO) are trading 2.09 per cent lower at $2.81.
Lottery business, Jumbo Interactive
(ASX:JIN) is expecting to increase its attributable net profit after tax by 102 per cent to about $11.3 million and it will also pay a special dividend of 8 cents. It comes as its total transaction value is expected to jump up by 25 per cent for the financial year ending 30 June 2018 to $182 million, on the back of customer re-engagement and customer new purchases. Its shares are noon are trading Jumbo Interactive
(ASX:JIN) are trading 3.7 per cent higher at $4.81.
To the best and worst performersThe best performing sector is reits adding 1.6 per cent, while the worst performing sector is utilities, shedding 1.5 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is CYBG PLC
(ASX:CYB), rising 5.2 per cent to $5.26, followed by shares in Mineral Resources Limited
(ASX:MIN) and Orocobre Limited (ASXORE).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is OneMarket
(ASX:OMN), dropping 7.8 per cent to $1.36, followed by shares in JB Hi-Fi Limited
(ASX:JBH) and AGL Energy Limited.
(ASX:AGL).
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 1.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.5 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,293 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.99 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin trades at US$7,725, Ethereum trades 4 per cent higher US$620 and EOS trades almost 1 per cent lower at US$14.63.
