Energy sector on the up: ASX closes flat

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

It's been a flat day for the Australian share market today. Energy stocks are doing well after Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed The National Energy Guarantee has been scrapped. Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) is up as is coal company Whitehaven (ASX:WHC). The country's second-largest independent oil and gas producer Santos (ASX:SAN) is also on the up. Meanwhile telcos are falling behind. While iron ore price gained 0.1 per cent to US$68.48 and its futures are pointing to a fall of 0.8 per cent. At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 2 points lower, or 0.03 per cent down to finish at 6142

Futures market

Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 20 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 3 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing lift of 17 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 14 point fall tomorrow.

Company news

Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (APDC) has advised that the access proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales commenced against NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) have come to an end. The judge decided not to make any declarations regarding the legal battle lodged against NEXTDC by APDC. The decision was made because there was no live dispute or current request for access from either party. Therefore proceedings were dismissed. The proceedings were launched in April this year over access rights to three of NEXTDC's data centres in Sydney Melbourne and Perth. The Supreme Court of New South Wales ordered costs in favour of NEXTDC. Shares in NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) closed 2.2 per cent lower to $5.84

CIMIC Group's (ASX:CIM) Thiess has signed a deal with BHP Nickel West which could generate revenue of around $190 million. Under the deal Thiess will continue to provide mining services at Leinster Underground Mine in Western Australia. CIMIC says the contract recognizes the company's close working relationship and ability to work flexibly with BHP Nickel West to meet the mine's growing development and production needs.

Primary Health Care (ASX:PRY) has inked a deal to acquire 7 Montserrat day hospitals across Australia for $138.5 million. They say the acquisition is an exciting opportunity for the company as growth in day hospital admissions has outpaced overnight hospital admissions over the last 10 years with the trend expected to continue.

Movio, a Vista Group International company (NZX&ASX:VGL), and STX Entertainment have renewed their agreement for STX to utilize Movio Media’s data-driven movie marketing campaign solutions and research platform. STX has grossed over $1.2bn in global box office revenue.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Energy adding 0.65 per cent while the worst performing sector was Telcos shedding 0.8 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Afterpay Touch Group (ASX:APT), rising 7.4 per cent to close at $16.11. Shares in Mayne Pharma Group (ASX:MYX) and Xero (ASX:XRO) followed higher.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Speedcast (ASX:SDA), dropping 5.6 per cent to close at $4.21. Shares in Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY)and Galaxy Resources (ASX:RSG) followed lower.

Asian markets

Mixed:Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite haslost 0.9 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,193 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.02 lower at $US67.75 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.15 US cents.

Cryptocurrencies

Some of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has gained 1.6 per cent to US$6,317, Ethereum has gained 3.7 per cent to US$198 and EOS has gained about 6.6 per cent to US$5.07 in the last 24 hours.

 

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