Buoyed by Wall Street’s winning streak the Australian share market leapt at open and gained momentum throughout the session to end 1.8 per cent stronger at the session high. As bullish sentiment shot steam into the day’s rally consumer staples energy and financial led gains, but the broader bourse fell just shy of a weekly gain.
Figures
The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 88 points today, narrowing the weekly loss of 3 points to finish at 5,120.
The value of trades was $6.1 billion on volume of 1.2 billion shares at the close of trade.
The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO)
On the futures market the SPI is 94 points stronger.
Wall Street
US stocks have continued to gain this week, marking the longest winning streak in more than 16 years: Over the four trading days so far the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 210 points, the S&P 500 Index has firmed 19 points, the Nasdaq has added 27 points and the 100 Index has put on 8 points.
Company news Leighton Holdings Limited’s
(ASX:LEI) subsidiary Visionstream has scored a contract to build the roll out of the national broadband network in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. The deal is potentially worth $1 billion over four years and is one of the biggest construction contracts on the NBN to date. Shares in Leighton Holdings rose 2.07 per cent today, ending the week at $22.14.
Stockland
(ASX:SGP) has announced plans to more than double the size of Hervey Bay shopping complex in Queensland through a $115 million redevelopment. The property developer expects a return on investment of between 13-14 per cent once the upgrade is complete at the end of 2014. Shares in Stockland gained 2.67 per cent today, ending the week at $3.85.
Whitehaven Coal Limited’s
(ASX:WHC) 19.4 per cent shareholder Nathan Tinkler has revealed his Tinkler Group of companies has around $500 million of debt, greater than the value of his Whitehaven stake which is valued at about $460 million.
Australian Agricultural Company Limited
(ASX:AAC) says cattle numbers are increasing. Speaking at the cattle producer’s annual general meeting Chairman Donald McGauchie told shareholders there are now two million more cattle in Australia than there were two years ago.
Best and worst performers
All major sectors advanced: The best performing sector was health care adding 336 points to close at 12,898.
The sector with the smallest gains was telco services, adding 11 points to close at 1,545 points.
The best performing stock in the S&PASX 200 was Senex Energy Limited
(ASX:SXY), rising 8.45 per cent to close at $0.77. Shares in GWA International Limited
(ASX:GWA) and BWP Trust
(ASX:BWP) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Gindalbie Metals Limited
(ASX:GBG), dropping 4.76 per cent to close at $0.20. Shares in Sundance Resources Limited
(ASX:SDL) and Orica Limited
(ASX:ORI) also closed lower.
Commodities
Gold is trading at $US1,590 an ounce, up $14.80 over the week.
Light crude is $0.24 higher at $US93.27 a barrel.
The Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is buying $US1.037, up $0.013 over the week.
