The Australian share market has extended its gains, rising for the third straight day, despite negative Wall Street leads at our market open.
As for stellar stand outs, Afterpay Touch
(ASX:APT) continues to set records for its stock jump, and is 13.82 per cent higher at noon, after the buy now pay later company, announced its total sales soared about 290 per cent on FY17 to $2.2 billion.
On the sector front, health is shining and leading most sectors higher, while miners trade in the red.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 17 points or 0.3 per cent higher at 6,280. On the futures market the SPI is 11 points higher.
Company news Westpac Bank
(ASX:WBC) got some extra buy-in today with fund manager, Vanguard taking its stake in the big four bank to over 5 per cent. It comes as shares in Westpac are trading 8.9 per cent lower year on year. At noon Westpac Bank
(ASX:WBC) shares are trading 0.54 per cent higher at $28.86.
National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) meantime revealed it will announce its third quarter trading update on 14 August (four weeks from today). Year on year its shares are trading 8.4 per cent lower. But at noon its shares are trading 0.5 per cent higher at $29.26.
And financial services company, Sequoia Financial Group
(ASX:SEQ) advised it’s raised $5 million from a placement to institutional and sophisticated investors. The funds will be used to bolster the company’s financial position, supporting its ASX clearing activities. Sequoia Financial Group
(ASX:SEQ) has $3.5 billion in funds under advice and at noon its shares are trading 1.5 per cent higher at $0.35.
IPOsA company that develop products and applications from R&D of its existing family of patents, Calix Limited
(ASX:CXL) started trading today, floating with an issue price of $0.53, opened at $0.65 and its trading at $0.63.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is HealthCare rising 1.3 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Materials, shedding 1 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Afterpay Touch Group Limited
(ASX:APT), rising 14 per cent to $15.40, followed by shares in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Limited
(ASX:API) and Pilbara Minerals Limited
(ASX:PLS).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is CSR (ASX: CSR), dropping 5.8 per cent to $4.15, followed by shares in Alumina Limited
(ASX:AWC) and Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited
(ASX:DMP).
Asian marketsLower at noon: Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.6 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,219 an ounce.
Iron ore price is steady at US$65.25 and its futures are pointing to a fall of 0.3 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.45 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed. Bitcoin has gained 2 per cent to US$7,467, Ethereum has fallen about 2.1 per cent to US$466 and EOS has fallen about 2.1 per cent to US$8.26.
