After six sessions of straight gains, the ASX200 took losses on Thursday and lost ground again today. It opened flat, took a tumble this morning and has been tracking sideways for most of the day, closing 0.6 per cent lower. The majority of sectors are down today with Energy and Consumer Staples taking the hardest hits. Over the week the Finance sector has capped the most gains and is up approximately 6 per cent. Crude oil has plunged below $60 for the first time since March and the Federal Court of Australia has approves a scheme of arrangement which will enable ANZ Hospitals to acquire Healthscope
(ASX:HSO) - more on that to come.
Broker MovesCiti has downgraded the Woolworths Group
(ASX:WOW) to a sell with a 12-month price target of $28.75 and downgraded the Coles Group
(ASX:COL) to a neutral with a target price of $13.00. This follows Citi's analysis that competition is likely to intensify when German discount supermarket chain Kaufland enters the Australian market in 2021. Shares in Woolworths Group
(ASX:WOW) closed 2.7 per cent lower at $32.70. Shares in Coles Group
(ASX:COL) are closed 3.4 per cent lower at $12.43.
The S&P/ASX200 indexAt the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 36 points lower to finish at 6,456.
Over the week, the market has gained 91 points or 1.4 per cent.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a rise of 89 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a lift of 10 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a rise of 28 points.
The ASX200 futures are eyeing a 29 point fall on Monday morning.
Company news The Federal Court of Australia has approved a scheme of arrangement which will enable ANZ Hospitals to acquire private hospital operator Healthscope
(ASX:HSO).The court orders are expected to be lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission today, with immediate effect. Implementation of the Scheme is scheduled for 6 June 2019. Shares in Healthscope
(ASX:HSO) last traded at $2.46.
Property developer Sunland Group
(ASX:SDG) is set to sell a greenfield site in Ingleside for $16.5 million.
Starpharma
(ASX:SPL) have released impressive results for their nanoparticle formulation for colon cancer.
Advance Nanotek
(ASX:ANO) has reported an unexpected uplift in orders from the United States covering their first quarter for the 2019 financial year.
Aged care provider Estia Health
(ASX:EHE) have reported lower than expected EBITDA for the full year 2019, despite an increase of 2 to 4 per cent compared to 2018.
IPOsTeaminvest Private Group
(ASX:TIP) started trading today. The private equity firm floated with an issue price of $1, opened at 94 cents and closed at 90 cents.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Consumer Discretionary adding 0.2 per cent while the worst performing sector was Energy, shedding 3.1 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Ansell
(ASX:ANN), rising 3.5 per cent to close at $26.73. Shares in Orora
(ASX:ORA) and Aristocrat Leisure
(ASX:ALL) followed higher.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Galaxy Resources
(ASX:GXY),dropping 6.6 per cent to close at $1.57. Shares in Pilbara Minerals
(ASX:PLS) and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) followed lower.
Asian marketsLower:Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.5 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 1.03 per cent.
Wall Street Wrapped up our four trading days this week lower: The Dow Jones lost 1.1 per cent, The S&P 500 lost 1.3 per cent and the tech heavy Nasdaq lost 2.5 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,285 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 1.9 per cent to US$103.79.
Light crude is US$3.23 lower at US$58.19 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 68.93 US cents.
