The Australian share market closed a little higher this afternoon. Energy and Materials continued to perform well as banks dragged ahead of the royal commission's interim report. Healthcare continued to see a dip – with Australian Pharmaceutical Industries
(ASX:API) continuing to drop - 9.8 per cent lower. Afterpay Touch
(ASX:APT) saw a rise this afternoon as did artificial intelligence company Appen
(ASX:APX). At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 6 points up, or 0.1 per cent higher to finish at 6192.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a rise of 47 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 6 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing lift of 29 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 8 point fall tomorrow morning
Local economic newsEngineering Construction Activity for the quarter. The trend estimate for the value of total work done rose 2.5 per cent in the June 2018 quarter. The trend estimate for the value of work done for the private sector rose 1.9 per cent in the June quarter.
Company news Auckland International Airport
(ASX:AIA) has released the term sheet for their retail bond offer. NZ$150 million has been allocate to the participants and their clients in the bookbuild process. The interest rate for the fixed rate bonds will be 3.51 per cent per annum being the aggregate of the base rate with a margin of 0.95 per cent over the underlying swap rate. The issue date will be on 10 October 2018 and will mature on 10 October 2024. Shares in Auckland International Airport
(ASX:AIA) closed 0.7 per cent lower to $6.80
.
Investment group Perpetual
(ASX:PPT) has today appointed Rob Adams as a Director on the board – effective immediately. He will not receive any additional remuneration for this role. In May 2018 he was announced as Chief Executive Officer of Perpetual. Shares in Perpetual
(ASX:PPT) closed 0.8 per cent higher at $42.42.
The proposed takeover of APN Outdoor
(ASX:APO) by JCDecaux has received the tick of approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board. JCDecaux made a $1.2 billion dollar offer for the outdoor ad company in June with a share bid price of $6.70.
Southern Cross Media Group
(ASX:SXL) has today announced it will transfer its Canberra broadcast playout operation to NPC media from 2020. NPC is a joint venture between the Nine and Seven Networks. The decision comes after Southern Cross sold its Canberra site in 2016 with a four-year lease back,
Nufarm
(ASX:NUF) has reported its underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) fell 28 per cent on the previous year to $98 million for the 2018 full year. Its revenue strengthened over the 2018 year, and lifted 6 per cent on FY17 to over $3.3 billion. Underlying earnings were only down by 1 per cent with the Australian drought impact largely offset by the European acquisition contribution.
Best and worst performers The best performing sector was Utilities adding 1 per cent while the worst performing sector was Healthcare shedding 0.7 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Afterpay touch group
(ASX:APT), rising 6.1 per cent to close at $16.97. Shares in Vocus Group
(ASX:VOC) and Qube Holdings
(ASX:QUB) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Australian Pharmaceutical Industries
(ASX:API),dropping 9.8 per cent to close at $1.71. Shares in Syrah Resources
(ASX:SYR) and Iluka Resources
(ASX:ILU) followed lower.
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 1.7 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 1.5 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,201 an ounce.
Iron ore price rose 0.2 per cent at $ 69.24 $/t. Its futures are pointing to a rise of 1.1 per cent.
Light crude is unchanged at US$72.08 at barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.66 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesSome of the most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has fallen 0.3 per cent to US$6459, Ethereum has fallen 0.4 per cent to US$214 and XRP is 11 per cent higher to $0.52.
