Recreational cannabis has now been legalised in Canada which helped to light up the market by 1.2 per cent, taking us back to late April highs. Health stocks led the rally after gaining 2.5 per cent with Property and Tech stocks gaining 2 per cent.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1.2 per cent higher or 69 point at 5,939.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a fall of 28 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 2 point.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing fall of 14 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 36 point rise tomorrow.
Company newsPharmaceutical company CSL
(ASX:CSL) says the board has no current plans undertake a share split to create affordability for their stock. Chairman John Shine spoke at today's AGM, saying a number of shareholders have asked for a share split due to their high share price, however, the company says its share price has not deterred private investors. Shares in CSL
(ASX:CSL) closed 2.5 per cent higher at $193.00.
Estia Health
(ASX:EHE) announced CEO and MD Norah Barlow agreed to remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director after Ian Thorley’s succession as CEO and Managing Director in November 2018. Andrew Harrison resigned as a Non-Executive Director, effective today, with Karen Penrose to replace Andrew as Chair of the Board Audit Committee. Karen is also a non-exec director of Vicinity Centres
(ASX:VCX), the Bank of Queensland
(ASX:BOQ) and Spark Infrastructure
(ASX:SPK). The changes were announced ahead of the company's AGM at in November. Estia Health
(ASX:EHE) shares closed 3.3 per cent higher at $2.22.
BHP
(ASX:BHP) has seen an 10 per cent rise in its iron ore production and a 2 per cent rise in group copper production in the September quarter. Full year production guidance remains unchanged for petroleum, iron ore, metallurgical coal and energy coal.
Building company Boral
(ASX:BLD) is planning to sell its US Block business for US$156 million by mid-November to Quikrete Holdings Inc.
BlueScope Steel
(ASX:BSL) subsidiary New Zealand Steel has snapped up about 15.8 per cent of the shares in Steel & Tube Holdings for $42.3 million The business is a customer of New Zealand Steel Steel.
And the a2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M) noted its a2Milk brand now has over 10 per cent market share in Australian and New Zealand brand, while China infant formula consumption has increased from 5.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent from June to September.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was S&P/ASX Health Care adding 2.6 per cent while the worst performing sector was S&P/ASX Materials, shedding 0.3 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Bellamy's Australia Limited
(ASX:BAL), rising 12.5 cent to close at $9.18. Shares in Emeco Holdings Limited
(ASX:EHL) and Blackmores Limited
(ASX:BKL) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Afterpay Touch Group Limited
(ASX:APT),dropping 18.93 per cent to close at $11.35. Shares in Credit Corp Group Limited
(ASX:CCP) and Perpetual Limited
(ASX:PPT) followed lower.
Asian marketsHigher: Japan’s Nikkei has added 1.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.1 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,221 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 0.2 per cent to US$71.50.
Its futures are pointing to a rise of 0.8 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.42 up at US$72.03 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.36 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has dropped by 0.3 per cent to US$6,589, Ethereum gained about 0.5 per cent to US$210 and XRP has gained about 5.3 per cent to US$0.48
