The market rallied up 1 per cent today with most of the sectors gaining and the small I.T sector rising the most, after the Nasdaq led Wall Street higher overnight, which saw US equities carve out their best day in over 2 weeks after Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet rose at least 1 per cent.
Our Tech sector rose 3 per cent with Afterpay
(ASX:APT) mustering up 9 per cent, with Telcos rising over 2 per cent and leading Financials, Industrials and the Consumer Discretionary sectors over 1 per cent higher.
Also from the get-go, we saw the oil price muster up, to US$51.60, which is seeing the Energy sector bounce back. But over the last month, the sector has lost 6.5 per cent.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 57 points higher, or 1 per cent higher, to finish at 5,728.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a fall of 9 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 1 point.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing fall of 9 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 53 point rise tomorrow morning
Most traded stocks The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ).
Company news The Federal Court of Australia has approved the merger of Nine and Fairfax with Nine buying 100 per cent of Fairfax’ issued capital. Court orders are set to be lodged with the ASIC tomorrow, with immediate effect and that will see Fairfax stop trading by end of trade tomorrow. New Nine shares will begin trading on Thursday. The combined business will create of the largest multi-platform media businesses in Australia with significant scale, presenting ‘powerful value’ for media agencies. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings
(ASX:NEC) shares closed 1.8 per cent higher at $1.73, and year-on-year it’s gained 10 per cent. Fairfax Media
(ASX:FXJ) closed 1.6 per cent higher at $0.65 and over the year it has lost 5.8 per cent.
Australia’s largest brick producer Brickworks
(ASX:BKW) advised its property division is set to make a record contribution to the business in 2019 on the back of new developments and settlement of its previously announced Punchbowl property. The earnings from its $151 million purchase of the leading US brick manufacturer, Glen-Gery will also underpin its FY2019 results. Year-on-year its shares are up 15 per cent.
IPH
(ASX:IPH), the intellectual property firm, responded to media reports that it is in talks to buy rival company, Qantm Intellectual Property. IPH says it has made a number of approaches to combine the companies through a scheme of arrangement. Year-on-year its shares are 2.7 per cent lower.
Santos
(ASX:STO) completes the US$1.93 billion purchase of Quadrant Energy. As part of the transaction, Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) sold its 13.2 per cent stake to Santos for US$170 million. Year-on-year Santos
(ASX:STO) shares are up 11.5 per cent.
IPOsQualitas
(ASX:QRI) started trading today. The listed investment trust, which invests in secured real estate loans, floated with an issue price of $1.60, opened at $1.65 and closed at $1.60. For more information, about the company, check out our
website for an interview with MD of Real Estate Finance.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was S&P/ASX Telco Services adding 2.4 per cent while the worst performing sector was S&P/ASX Real Estate Investment Trusts, shedding 0.04 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT), rising 8.63 per cent to close at $12.97. Shares in Seven West Media
(ASX:SWM) and Technology One Limited
(ASX:TNE) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Syrah Resources
(ASX:SYR), dropping 5.6 per cent to close at $1.59. Shares in Resolute Mining
(ASX:RSG) and Bluescope Steel Limited (ASX BSL) followed lower.
Asian marketsHigher: Japan’s Nikkei has added 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 0.02 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.4 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,223 an ounce.
Iron Ore is trading 8.4 per cent lower at US$64.25. Its futures are pointing to a fall of 3.6 per cent.
Light crude is $1.18 up at US$51.60 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 72.36 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has fallen 6 per cent to US$3,785, Ethereum has fallen 6.6 per cent to US$107 and EOS has fallen 6.4 per cent to US$3.14, in the last 24 hours.
