The local share market started the trading week in the black, but it was a bumpy ride. The ASX200 rose at the open on the back of solid Wall Street leads from Friday’s session, but we lost momentum on the back of some disappointing results for investors. We saw both Ansell
(ASX:ANN) and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) fall the most after announcing their 2018 full year results, which put a cap on gains. However, the Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX) saw a jump on the back of a takeover offer (details below).
As for the sectors, materials led most of the market higher on Monday with gold players like St Barabara
(ASX:SBM) rising over 2 per cent and Newcrest
(ASX:NCM) following.
Meantime, we saw the iron ore price gain 1.7 per cent to US$67.63, while its futures are pointing to a rise of 1.4 per cent.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 6 points higher, or 0.1 per cent higher, to finish at 6,345.
Futures market Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 16 points.
S&P 500 futures are flat.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a lift of 9.5 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing an 8 point rise tomorrow.
Value of trades $5.8 billion on volume of 728 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and CSL
(ASX:CSL).
Company news Fleet leasing, fleet management and diversified financial services company, Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX), received a non-binding takeover offer from SG Fleet
(ASX:SGF) for $2.00 cash and 0.15 SG Fleet shares per Eclipx share, which values the shares at $2.52. That’s an 18 per cent premium to Eclipx’s closing price of $2.14 on Friday 17 August 2018. The board, however, rejected the proposal, saying it’s not in the best interest of shareholders. Shares in Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX) closed 16.4 per cent higher at $2.49.
Food, drinks and petrol giant, Woolworths
(ASX:WOW) reported its net profit after tax jumped about 13 per cent to $1.7 billion for the year ending 24 June 2018 and dividend per share price of 23 per cent, after including a special dividend.
Fortescue Metals Group
(ASX:FMG) has notched a 58 per cent slide in its 2018 financial year profits, with attributable profit hitting US$879 million, Revenue was $US6.88 billion lower than the $US7.04 billion expected by analysts.
Protective glove company Ansell
(ASX:ANN) saw its attributable profit lift 9 per cent to US$484.3 million in the 2018 financial year and it reported a 5 per cent rise in its full-year final dividend.
Vet and pet care specialist Greencross
(ASX:GXL) reported a dip in its full-year net profit, as a result of write-downs, while its group revenue increased over 7 per cent.
Health insurer nib Holdings
(ASX:NHF) saw a 11.1 per cent rise in net profit after tax to $133.5 million. Its full-year dividend is 20 cents per shares, a rise of 5.3 per cent.
IPOsNickel Mines
(ASX:NIC) started trading today. It floated with an issue price of $0.35, opened at $0.30 and it closed at $0.28.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Materials, adding 1.1 per cent, while the worst performing sector was Consumer Staples, shedding 0.9 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX), rising 16.4 per cent to close at $2.49. Shares in Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) and Resolute Mining
(ASX:RSG) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Ansell
(ASX:ANN), dropping 7.2 per cent to close at $25.80. Shares in Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) and IOOF Holdings
(ASX:IFL) followed lower.
Asian marketsMixed. Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.8 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,186 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.33 up at $US65.21 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.01 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher. Bitcoin has gained 1.3 per cent to US$6,489, Ethereum has gained 2 per cent to US$302 and EOS has gained about 3.2 per cent to US$5.26 in the last 24 hours.
