The Australian share market dropped like a stone at the open on the back of the Dow Jones notching its worst day of the month. The local bourse started to pare back from heavy selling and is tracking 0.1 per cent lower at noon. Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR) saw their shares rise after they announced yesterday their intention to acquire MOD Resources. The Steadfast Group
(ASX:SDF) have also seen a rise in their shares after a proposed alliance with Insurance Brokers Network Australia Limited (IBNA).
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 10 points down at 6,648. On the futures market the SPI is 10 points lower.
Local economic newsThe ABS released results from engineering construction activity for March showing trend estimate for the value of work done fell 4.4 per cent in the March 2019 quarter.
Company newsLeading AI Edge company BrainChip Holdings
(ASX:BRN) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement with Socionext America Inc (SNA) for product development and manufacturing of its Akida Neuromorphic System-on-Chip (NSoC). This agreement marks a major milestone for bringing the Akida NSoC to market. Socionext Inc. (SNI), headquartered in Japan, is the combination of the former Fujitsu and Panasonic System-onChip (SoC) businesses. Shares in BrainChip Holdings
(ASX:BRN) last traded at 9 cents.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Healthcare, adding 0.4 per cent, while the worst performing sector is REIT, shedding 0.7 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR), rising 5.3 per cent to $6.61, followed by shares in Afterpay Touch Group
(ASX:APT) and Steadfast Group
(ASX:SDF).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Emeco Holdings
(ASX:EHL),dropping 4.3 per cent to $2.02, followed by shares in Orocobre
(ASX:ORE) and Janus Henderson Group
(ASX:JHG).
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has lost 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has shed 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.3 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,413 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 2 per cent to US$114.46
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 1.9 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 69.60 US cents.
