The Australia share market breathed a sigh of relief after Scott Morrison became Australia’s Prime Minister-elect.
The news saw the Australian dollar recovery from its sell-off yesterday, which took the Australia dollar to a year low. The ASX200 re-entered positive territory, after its running at a loss for three-days. But it wasn’t enough to see us make a solid gain and the local bourse finished flat, even though half of the sectors made gains, with Healthcare leading, Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Utilities also boding well.
Going the other way we saw some profit taking and financial results which missed expectations, with Wisetech
(ASX:WTC) closing lower on profit taking and Costa Group
(ASX:CGC) falling after reporting their results.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 3 points up, or 0.05 per cent higher to finish at 6,247. But over the week, Australian shares lost 1.47 per cent.
Futures market Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 40 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 3.75 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing lift of 15 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 1 point rise on Monday morning
Value of trades $8.1 billion on volume of 1.1 billion shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Westpac Banking Corp
(ASX:WBC), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ).
Company news Shares in IDP Education
(ASX:IEL) re-entered all-time high territory today, just a day after the international education company, offering student placements in Australia, NZ, the US, UK, and Canada reported a 24 per cent rise in its net profit after tax rose to $52 million in the 2018 financial year, while its revenue rose 24 per cent. Shares in IDP Education
(ASX:IEL) closed 9.03 per cent higher at $10.75
Shares in pallets company Brambles
(ASX:BXB) touched a 2018 high today, a level they were at back in late 2017 after reporting a its profits after tax surged 293 PM-elect to US$747.1 million in the 2018 financial year, compared to the previous. It also announced plans to demerge its IFCO fresh food logistics business and are hoping to list it as a separate company in the 2019 finanical year.
Healthcare company, Mayne Pharma Group
(ASX:MYX) reported attributable profit after tax of $42 million, a recovery from the prior corresponding period’s loss of $18 million. Meantime its revenue is fell 7 per cent on the prior corresponding period to $530 million. Its shares fell 5.7 per cent, taking the shares back to its late June levels.
Foreign high rollers and VIPS returning to Australian casinos saw The Star Entertainment Group
(ASX:SGR) reporting normalised net profit after tax (NPAT) growth of over 20 per cent on last year to $258 million. Its shares gained 6 per cent,
Food supplier to retailers, Costa Group
(ASX:CGC) has reported its net profit after tax (NPAT) jumped about 100 per cent to $115.2 million in the 2018 financial year.
IPOMining company, Kingwest Resources
(ASX:KWR) started trading today. It floated with an issue price of 20 cents, opened at 19.5 cents and it closed at 19 cents.
Satellite infrastructure company, Kleos Space S.A
(ASX:KSS) started trading today. It floated with an issue price of 20 cents, opened at 14.5 cents and it closed at 16 cents.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector, S&P/ASX Health Care up 2.1 per cent. The worst performing sector, S&P/ASX Telcos down 3.2 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was IDP Education
(ASX:IEL), rising 9.03 per cent to close at $10.75. Shares in Brambles
(ASX:BXB) and Afterpay Touch (ASX:becomingAPT) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Wisetech Global
(ASX:WTC), dropping 15.55 per cent to close at $20.04. Shares in Costa Group Holdings
(ASX:CGC) and Altium
(ASX:ALU) followed lower.
Asian marketsMixed: Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.5 per cent.
Wall Street Wrapped up the four trading days this week most higher: The Dow Jones lost 0.05 per cent, The S&P 500 added 0.24 per cent and the tech heavy Nasdaq gained 1.5 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,189 an ounce.
Iron ore price is at $66.20 and its futures are eyeing a 0.2 per cent fall.
Light crude is $0.02 lower at $US67.84 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.78 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 1.3 per cent to US$6,524.
