The Australian share market rose in leaps and bounds to break above 6200 points taking it to a five month high. Shares in tech company AfterPay Touch
(ASX:APT) rose over 6 per cent today and Bellamy's
(ASX:BAL) organic baby food company rose up over 7 per cent. Pilbara Minerals
(ASX:PLS) and Nufarm
(ASX:NUF) took a dip. Real Estate Investment Trusts is leading the sectors today with Energy coming in last with Caltex
(ASX:CTX) shares dropping almost 5 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 index is 32 points up or half a per cent higher at 6201. On the futures market the SPI is 30 points higher.
Local economic newsThe Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index recovered by a further 1.5 points to 54.0 points in February 2019 (seasonally adjusted). This was the best monthly result since October 2018. It signals a better month of recovery in February 2019, following an unseasonably slow summer, with weak growth in January and two flat months in November and December 2018.
According to the CoreLogic home value index results released today, housing values continued to trend lower in February with CoreLogic’s National Index down 0.7 per cent. This takes the cumulative decline to -6.8% since values peaked in October 2017
Company newsBreaker Resources NL
(ASX:BRB) has secured a mining lease for Lake Roe Resource set for April –May this year. The Western Australia’s Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety granted the Mining Lease. Breaker believes there is outstanding potential for additional open pit mining along strike from the main discovery and for long-term underground mining below it. Shares in Breaker Resources NL
(ASX:BRB) are trading 3.5 per cent to $0.42
Back in December last year, Finaccess Capital through its subsidiary Global Valar S.L., made a partial takeover offer for up to 75 per cent of Restaurant Brands New Zealand
(ASX:RBD).Today, Finaccess Capital have informed Restaurant Brands that they have been granted consent by the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office. The key remaining conditions of the Partial Takeover are the consent by certain subsidiaries of Yum! Brands, Inc., the owner of the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands franchised to Restaurant Brands. Shares in Restaurant Brands New Zealand
(ASX:RBD) last traded at $7.33.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Real Estate Investment Trusts adding 1.7 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Energy, shedding 1.2 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Bellamy's Australia
(ASX:BAL), rising 7.98 per cent to $8.80, followed by shares in AfterPay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) and Harvey Norman Holdings
(ASX:HVN).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Caltex
(ASX:CTX), dropping 4.97 per cent to $27.18, followed by shares in Nufarm
(ASX:NUF) and Pilbara Minerals
(ASX:PLS)Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,314 an ounce.
Iron ore price rose 2.1 per cent to US$85.29
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.4 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 70.97 US cents.
