The Australian share market has snapped its two-day losing streak and is now in profit territory. Mostly all of the sectors are trading higher and just the Energy sectors is lagging, in the wake of the US crude oil price falling from its year-high. The S&P/ASX 200 index is 0.8 per cent higher or 48 points up at 6,252 at noon at 10-year highs. On the futures market the SPI is 40 points higher.
The mining sector is leading the charge today, with BHP
(ASX:BHP) up 3.3 per cent , Rio
(ASX:RIO) up almost 1 per cent. Overnight the iron ore price fell 0.8 per cent to US$US64.07 and its futures are pointing to a rise of 0.4 per cent.
Company news Australian gold miner, Saracen
(ASX:SAR) has seen a stellar rally its shares, with it hitting $2.27 earlier on the back of a lot of buy-in. In fact their share price has seen a massive rise over the past year and has risen from a low of $1.17 with it now trading near its one year high. It comes as it announced record gold production for the financial year ending June 2018, with gold reaching over 316,000 ounces. For the financial year ahead, it also bumped up its guidance from 300,000 to 325 to 345,000 ounces. At noon its shares are trading 7.3 per cent higher at $2.20 at noon.
Global education provider, Navitas
(ASX:NVT) will close some of its careers and industry divisions following a review, resulting in a one off $130 million charge (post-tax) for the company’s 2018 financial year. It advised, it will look into selling all of its SAE US colleges, but at this stage it will be closing SAE Oxford, and two SAE US Collages in the West Coast of America. Plus, it will close or sell Health Skills Australia and convert SAE Indonesia into a licensed operation. This was not accounted for in the previously advised market expectations, so it has spooked investors today. As a result, shares in Navitas
(ASX:NVT) are trading 5.4 per cent lower at $4.00 at noon.
And in small cap news, solar building tech company, ClearVue Technologies
(ASX:CPV) received the green light for its solar windows to be sold in Australia. It comes as it's received Australian Standard’s accreditation. Its shares are trading 3.8 per cent higher at $0.42 at noon.
IPOsManufacturer, packer and exporter of dairy and nutrition products, Keytone Dairy Corporation Limited
(ASX:KTD) started trading today. It floated with an issue price of $0.20 opened at $0.26 and its trading at $0.31.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Materials adding 1.5 per cent, while the worst performing sector Telco Services, gaining 0.2 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited
(ASX:SAR), rising 7.32 per cent higher to $2.20, followed by shares in Technology One Limited
(ASX:TNE) and Afterpay Touch Group Limited
(ASX:APT).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Navitas Limited
(ASX:NVT), dropping 5.4 per cent to $4.00, followed by shares in Beach Energy Limited
(ASX:BPT) and Oil Search Limited
(ASX:OSH).
Asian markets Higher at noon: Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.95 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.34 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.22 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,229 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.86 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher. Bitcoin has gained 8.9 per cent to US$7,342, Ethereum has gained about 4.9 per cent to US$503 and EOS has gained about 10.6 per cent to US$8.90.
