UK exit polls suggest a Boris Johnson win: ASX tracking 0.4% higher at noon

The Australian share market rose at the open and is now tracking 0.4 per cent higher at noon. Stocks with significant UK businesses enjoyed gains such as Virgin Money UK (ASX:VUK) after exit polls in the UK election point to a Boris Johnson majority. Shares in Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX:CLW) fell this morning – earlier they announced the successful completion of placement and institutional offer. And an independent valuation of Dexus' (ASX:DXS) properties has seen the real estate investor report a $656 million uplift in the value of its portfolio seeing their shares fall slightly.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 27 point up at 6,736. On the futures market the SPI eyeing a lift of 34 points.

Broker Moves

UBS has upgraded the Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) to a buy from a Neutral with a target price of $12.50 from $12.10. UBS say they are increasingly convinced of Charter Hall’s ability to continue raising and deploying third-party equity/debt. The broker upgrades earnings estimates by 7-8% to reflect growth in assets under management and co-investments. Shares in the Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) are currently 1.9 per cent higher at $11.20.

Company news

Medical device company PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) is thrilled NovoSorb BTM has been granted a certificate of conformance, that’s a CE Mark, approval for sale throughout UK/Ireland and the European Union. NovoSorb BTM has been approved for use in all full dermal loss procedures such as burns, wide excision surgery and scar revision. PolyNovo will now need to file documents with each European market. They have had a UK/Ireland salesperson for the past year to prepare for CE approval and are currently recruiting more. Shares in PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) are currently 17.6 per cent higher at $2.04.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is Financials, adding 1.3 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Real Estate Investment Trust shedding 1.5 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Polynovo (ASX:PNV) rising 17.6 per cent to $2.04, followed by shares in Virgin Money UK (ASX:VUK) and Bravura Solutions (ASX:BVS).

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR), dropping 6.2 per cent to $1.17, followed by shares in Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,469 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 0.7 per cent to US$94.02
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.7 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 69.16 US cents.