Downer EDI shares down over wind farm: ASX tracking 0.8% lower at noon

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

The Australian share market dropped at the open following weak leads from Wall Street and is now tracking 0.8 per cent lower at noon. Shares in Downer EDI (ASX:DOW) have fallen almost 8 per cent as they released news of their on-going talks with bankrupt partner Senvion to establish a process for completing the first stage of a wind farm in Victoria. Rare earths miner Lynas (ASX:LYC) has seen a rise in their shares of ten per cent today. As for the sectors, the communication services sector is leading the way with Financials and Materials close behind. Dragging behind so far this morning is the Industrial sector.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 50 points down higher at 6,435. On the futures market the SPI is 44 points lower.

Company news

Cloud security technology company, FirstWave Cloud Technology (ASX:FCT) is jointly expanding its FirstWave Cybersecurity Technology Laboratory in Sydney with tech partner Cisco. The company recently announced a first win of a Tier One Service Provider under the OEM agreement between FirstWave and Cisco. This expansion is in answer to the continued threats that plague global corporations. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, damage related to cybercrime is projected to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. Shares in FirstWave Cloud Technology (ASX:FCT) are down 5.9 per cent to $0.32.

AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG) has appointed Maria Ramos as an independent non-executive director to its board of directors, effective from Monday. She will serve as a member of the Investment committee and the Social and Ethics and Sustainability Committee. She has extensive commercial experience within the banking industry and has occupied prominent roles in South Africa. Shares in AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG) trading at $3.34

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector losing the least is Communication Services, dropping 0.01 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Industrials, shedding 1.5 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Lynas (ASX:LYC), rising 10 per cent to $2.63, followed by shares in Ausdrill (ASX:ASL) and Domain Holdings (ASX:DHG).

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Downer EDI (ASX:DOW),dropping 7.5 per cent to $7.29, followed by shares in SmartGroup Corp (ASX:SIQ) and Nufarm (ASX:NUF).

Asian markets

Nikkei is down 1.3 per cent, Hang Sang down 0.6 per cent and China's Shanghai Composite is down 0.3 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,280 an ounce.
Iron ore price rose 2.3 per cent to US$$106.11
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 2.8 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 69.26 US cents.

 

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