The Australian share market climbed at the open following leads from Wall Street and is now tracking 0.8 per cent higher at noon. Banks helped. The NAB
(ASX:NAB) saw a rise in their shares this morning after the announcement of a new CEO. Ross McEwan comes from the Royal Bank of Scotland where he led the organisation through significant change and recovery. Eclipx
(ASX:ECX) and Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST) are up. Clinuvel
(ASX:CUV) and Costa Group Holdings
(ASX:CGC) are down. The Financials sector is leading the way and the Energy sector trailing behind.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 51 points up 6,700. On the futures market the SPI is 0.9 per cent higher.
Company newsInsurance company QBE
(ASX:QBE) will be posting an adjustment to their 1H19 and FY19 statutory results after the UK Ministry of Justice changed the statutory discount rate in relation to personal injury claims. QBE has been assessing the potential impact of this change and wishes to advise that adoption of the revised statutory rate of -0.25 per cent is expected to result in a one-off increase in the Group’s net central estimate of outstanding claims liabilities of approximately $60 million. Shares QBE
(ASX:QBE) trading 1.6 per cent higher at $11.88.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Financials, adding 1.2 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Energy, shedding 0.1 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Eclipx Group
(ASX:ECX), rising 7.4 per cent to $1.60, followed by shares in Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST) and Resolute Mining
(ASX:RSG).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:CUV), dropping 6.7 per cent to $31.30, followed by shares in Costa Group Holdings
(ASX:CGC) and CIMIC Group
(ASX:CIM).
Asian marketsJapan’s Nikkei has added 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has also added 0.6 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,443 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 1.1 per cent to US$119.90
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.8 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 70.76 US cents.
