The Australian share market opened higher following mixed leads from Wall Street. However we have been seeing a sell off throughout the morning driving the market 0.6 per cent lower at noon. Healthcare, Materials and Financials have been the worst performing sectors today. Plato Income Maximiser
(ASX:PL8) has announced that its investments delivered a total return of 16.2 per cent.
Broker movesCiti has upgraded Austal's
(ASX:ASB) twelve month price target from $2.31 to $2.76. They maintain their recommendation to buy. This follows Citi's analysis that Austal’s Vietnam shipyard is strategically located, it's management team led by Mark Dummet have extensive experience in the Vietnamese market and it is trading at a 14 per cent discount compared to its peers. Shares in Austal
(ASX:ASB) are trading 0.2 per cent higher at $2.31 at noon..
Citi has downgraded Magellan Financial Group
(ASX:MFG) from a buy to a neutral with a twelve month price target of $39.80 saying they remain attracted to the business but do not see the risk reward profile as as less compelling at this time. Shares in Magellan Financial Group
(ASX:MFG) are trading 0.3 per cent lower at $38.92 at noon..
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 37 points lower at 6,187. On the futures market the SPI is points to a fall of 34 points.
Company newsListed investment company, Plato Income Maximiser
(ASX:PL8) has reported results for the period ending 31 March 2019. The company's investments delivered a total return of 16.2 per cent. It has distributed a yield of 8.4 per cent (including franking) in the last 12 months. It says that it aims to pay regular monthly dividends and has declared 3 fully franked dividends of half a cent per share for April, May and June 2019. Shares in Plato Income Maximiser
(ASX:PL8) are flat at $1.04 at noon.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Utilities adding 0.3 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Materials, shedding 1.1 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Seven West Media
(ASX:SWM), rising 3.4 per cent to 53 cents, followed by shares in Unibail-Rodamco Westfield
(ASX:URW) and Technology One
(ASX:TNE).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Bank of Queensland
(ASX:BOQ),dropping 4.7 per cent to $8.97, followed by shares in Sims Metal Management
(ASX:SGM) and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries
(ASX:API).
Asian markets are all lowerJapan’s Nikkei has lost 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.5 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.4 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,307 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 0.3 per cent to US$94.61.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.1 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.62 US cents.
