Australian shares have extended their record run, rising further from our new 10-year high, hitting 6,231 earlier in the session. In fact our year to-date return for ASX200 is 3 per cent, but what’s impressive is the year-on-year return, which is up 17 per cent.
The discretionary sector is leading mostly all the sectors higher today after outdoor advertising business APN Outdoor
(ASX:APO) saw a huge rally (news below). Gambling business, Jumbo Interactive
(ASX:JIN) is also trading near its one- year-highs, while Telstra
(ASX:TLS) continues to see red, leaving telcos the only sector today that’s not making gains.
Iron ore price is 1.4 per cent higher to US$65.49 and its futures are pointing to a rise of 1.4 per cent. We are seeing BHP
(ASX:BHP) gain over 1 per cent, leading the big iron ore players higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 59 points or 1 per cent higher 6,232. On the futures market the SPI is 47 points higher.
Company news Outdoor advertising company, APN Outdoor
(ASX:APO) shares have jumped to a one year high after it received a $1.1 billion takeover offer, with JCDecaux SA (JDD) offering to buy its shares for $6.52 a share. The takeover offer price is almost a 12 per cent premium to APO’s share price on 20 June 2018. The offer is unsolicited, non-binding and conditional to a lot of things, including APN Outdoor not proceeding with the $500 million takeover of Adshel. APN says although advanced talks are underway with HT&E
(ASX:HT1) to potentially buy Adshell, no agreements have been reached and ‘there is no certainty’ it will result in going ahead. At this stage, shareholders should not take any action, with legal and financial advisers including Morgan Stanley assessing the offer. Shares in APO
(ASX:APO) are trading 11.5 per cent higher at $6.52
Global logistics company, Wisetech Global
(ASX:WTC) has snapped up a leading US parcel transport management solution (TMS) business, Pierbridge for $37 million upfront, with a further earn out potential of up to $22.4 million. The business is being driven by significant global e-commerce growth in shipping parcels with Pierbridge’s 2017 revenue hitting $9.3 million. Pierbridge will be consolidated into WiseTech’s accounts from July 2018. Shares in Wisetech Global
(ASX:WTC) are trading 2.1 per cent higher at $17.19.
Atlas Iron
(ASX:AGO) is recommending shareholders accept Gina Rinehart’s Redstone Corp’s $390 million takeover offer (for all of AGO’s shares for 4.2 cents per share). At the same time, it advised it will have to pay a $3.12 million break free for withdrawing its recommendation NOT to proceed with Mineral Resources takeover. At this stage, Hancock has a 20 per cent stake in the company, Bianca Hope Rinehart holds about 20 per cent, Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) has 20 per cent, and Macquarie Group
(ASX:MGQ) has about 6 per cent. Atlas Iron Limited
(ASX:AGO) trades 1.1 per cent lower at $0.04, while Mineral Resources
(ASX:MIN) shares fell 1 per cent to $16.40 on the back of the news.
IPOsInvestment fintech, Raiz Invest
(ASX:RZI) started trading today, floating with an issue price of $1.80, opened at $1.79 and its trading at $1.49. The company has a phone app which allows you to round-up your ETF transactions and invest them either into a portfolio of shares or into your superannuation.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is discretionary adding 1.9 per cent while the worst performing sector is telcos, shedding 0.3 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is APN Outdoor Group Limited
(ASX:APO), rising 11.5 per cent to $6.53 followed by shares in Bellamy's Australia Limited
(ASX:BAL) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited
(ASX:SAR).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Ramsay Health Care Limited
(ASX:RHC), dropping 7 per cent to $57.81, followed by shares in Infigen Energy
(ASX:IFN) and Primary Health Care Limited
(ASX:PRY).
Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.04 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.02 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,268 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.70 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin is at US$6,781 Ethereum trades at US$539 and EOS is at US$10.51
