The Australian share market opened lower this morning and is now trading flat at noon. It rallied from a drop after the decision by the US Federal Reserve to raise rates following soft leads from Wall Street The Australian dollar had been falling throughout the morning, but rose slightly on the news the unemployment rate fell in May - but is still trading lower for the session. We entered into negative territory after traders absorbed the economic news with some exceeding and some missing data expectations. The telecommunications sector is leading the way and the utilities sector trailing behind after in the first two hours of trade
Iron ore price fell 0.3 per cent to US$67.02 and its futures are pointing to a rise of 0.74 per cent. We are seeing the likes of Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG) and IRESS
(ASX:IRE) make good gains
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 0.20 points up at 6024. On the futures market the SPI is 4 points higher.
Economic newsThe unemployment rate fell more than expected in May, dropping to 5.4 per cent from 5.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. Meantime, the number of employed people however only rose by 12,000 in May (in seasonally adjusted terms) and that was less than the market expected. In terms of which states had the strongest annual growth in trend employment, New South Wales continued to shine, leading the way [3.6 per cent growth], followed by Queensland [with 2.9 per cent growth] and South Australia [with 2.4 per cent]. We saw the markets lose momentum after the data dropped at 11:30
Company news Danakali
(ASX:DNK) has made some major management changes. Previous Non-Executive Chairman, Mr Seamus Cornelius, has been appointed as Executive Chairman, effective immediately; The Current Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Danny Goeman has tendered his resignation; and a new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Mr Niels Wage, has been appointed, effective immediately. Danakali is a 50 per cent owner of the Colluli Potash Project in Eritrea, East Africa. Shares in Danakali
(ASX:DNK) 0.7 per cent lower at $0.69
NetComm Wireless
(ASX:NTC) has settled the legal claim involving Corning Optical Communications, previously announced on 6 October 2017. The related Federal Court proceeding will be dismissed. The details of this settlement are confidential, however, it is confirmed that the settlement has not had, and will not have, a material impact on NetComm Wireless’ financial position. Shares in NetComm Wireless
(ASX:NTC) 6.2 per cent higher at $1.21
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Telcos adding 2.6 per cent to 1053 points while the worst performing sector is utlitiles shedding 1.1 per cent to 7958 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Retail Food Group
(ASX:RFG), rising 10.01 per cent to $0.60, followed by shares in Iress
(ASX:IRE) and Orocobre
(ASX:ORE).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Primary Health Care
(ASX:PRY), dropping 7.8 per cent to $3.56, followed by shares in APA Group
(ASX:APA) and Coca Cola Amatil
(ASX:CCL).
Asian markets – which are mixed
Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.4 per cent,
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.02 per cent,
Shanghai Composite has gained 0.3 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,298 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.61 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin has fallen 2.9 per cent to US$6393,
Ethereum fallen about 4.7 per cent to US$476,
EOS falled 3.2 per cent trading at $9.90
