The Australian share market opened higher following mixed leads from Wall Street and is now tracking 0.7 per cent higher at noon. Shares in Bega Cheese
(ASX:BGA) have seen a boost after the Federal Court of Australia ruled they can use Kraft's Peanut Butter packaging. Kraft tried to stop them. The banks are doing well today with the finance sector leading the charge. ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) shares are reaching seven-month highs after releasing their half year results. NAB
(ASX:NAB), Westpac
(ASX:WBC) and Comm bank
(ASX:CBA) also saw a lift in their shares today. Nine Entertainment
(ASX:NEC) are also seeing a rise in their shares today after news from earlier this week that they are to ditch their printing business. The S&P/ASX 200 index is 45 points up at 6371. On the futures market the SPI is 39 points higher.
Local economic newsCoreLogic reported today that Australia’s dwelling values fall 0.5% in April as rate of decline continues to ease. Dwelling values are down 7.2 per cent over the past twelve months and 7.9 per cent lower since peaking in September 2017. The Sydney market remained the biggest loser of the capitals, with values 10.9 per cent lower than they were a year ago.
Company newsANZ
(ASX:ANZ) released their results today and show their statutory profit after tax for the half year ending 31 March 2019 was down 5 per cent on the last comparable period to $3.17 billion. Meanwhile its cash profit for its continuing operations has lifted 2 per cent to $3.56 billion. In three months to April, ANZ's home lending fell 3 per cent. The Interim Dividend is 80 cents per share, fully franked. This equates to $2.27 billion to be paid to shareholders. Shares in ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) are up 3.2 per cent to $28.07.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is Information Technology adding 1.6 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, shedding 0.6 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT), rising 6.5 per cent to $27.25, followed by shares in Bravura Solutions
(ASX:BVS) and Bega Cheese
(ASX:BGA).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Super Retail Group
(ASX:SUL), dropping 7.7 per cent to $7.99, followed by shares in Skycity Entertainment Group
(ASX:SKC) and Bank of Queensland
(ASX:BOQ).
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at $US1,282 an ounce.
Iron ore price rose 0.1 per cent to US$ 94.17
One Australian dollar is buying 70.54 US cents.
