The Australian share market hit a new 10-year high today despite finishing flat. Over half of the market closed in the black with Telcos rising the most, 3.6 per cent, on a potential new $15 billion new Telco being created.
Meantime, Staples and Financials saw the most selling with the likes of Platinum Asset Management
(ASX:PTM) losing over 5 per cent after reporting its attributable profit rose about 2 per cent.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.01 per cent or not even 1 point lower at 6,352.
Futures market Dow futures are suggesting a fall of 55 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 4 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing fall of 14 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 6 point fall tomorrow morning.
Value of trades $6.8 billion on volume of 827 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were CBA
(ASX:CBA), Telstra
(ASX:TLS) and BHP
(ASX:BHP).
Economic newsBuilding permits/approvals fell 5.2 per cent (seasonally adjusted terms), worse than the expected 2.5 per cent dip for July.
Private capital spending (business investment) fell 2.5 per cent, while the market was expecting a rise of 0.6 per cent for the June quarter. Another reason we are saw a bit of selling in the market.
Company news One of today’s top performers. Speedcast
(ASX:SDA) receiving some extra buy-in, from a non-exec director, and independent non-exec director today, while it was also upgraded to an outperforming stock by Swiss multinational investment bank, Credit Suisse. Speedcast
(ASX:SDA) shares finished 6.1 per cent higher at $4.21.
TPG Telecom
(ASX:TPM) and Vodafone Hutchison Australia
(ASX:HTA) have agreed to a merger of equals to creating a $15 billion leading full-service telco provider. The new merged group, TPG Telecom will have revenue of $6 billion, and EBITDA of $1.9 billion and will have the strength to compete with Telstra
(ASX:TLS) and Optus. Shares in TPG Telecom
(ASX:TPM) gained 18 per cent, while Vodafone Hutchison Australia
(ASX:HTA) rose 44 per cent.
Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR) rose 8.6 per cent after it reported its net profit after tax rose 60 per cent in the 2018 financial year to $123 million, while its saw record revenue of $607 million, a rise of 14 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Financial services company, Perpetual
(ASX:PPT) reported their net profit after tax (NPAT) rose 2 per cent to $140 million, while its operating revenue rose by 4 per cent to $533.7 million to the 12 months to 30 June 2018.
Ramsay Healthcare
(ASX:RHC) reported its net profit after tax (NPAT) slipped 21 per cent to $388 million. In good news for the company though, its revenue strengthened throughout the year rising 5.4 per cent to $9.2 million.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Telcos adding 3.6 per cent. Worse performing sector is Consumer Staples, shedding 0.5 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is TPG Telecom Limited
(ASX:TPM), closing 18.2 per cent higher at $9.32 followed by shares in Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR) and Speedcast International
(ASX:SDA).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Ramsay Health Care
(ASX:RHC), closing 6.3 per cent lower at $54.48, followed by shares in Atlas Arteria
(ASX:ALX) and Platinum Asset Management Limited
(ASX:PTM).
Asian marketsMixed: Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.9 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,202 an ounce.
Iron ore price gained 2.3 per cent, to US$67.37. Iron ore futures are pointing to a gain of 0.4 per cent.
Light crude is $1.17 up at $US69.70 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.88 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has lost 0.2 per cent to US$7,050, Ethereum has lost 1.8 per cent to US$289 and EOS has gained 6.1 per cent to US$6.21, in the last 24 hours.
