Gold hits new high: Aus shares 0.6% higher at noon

Market Reports

by Ortenzia Borre

The Australian share market opened higher this morning but is now trading 0.6 per cent up at noon. Gold miners are performing well this morning as the commodity hit a new high, and Wall St rose overnight.

After yesterday’s horror day, Melbourne recorded 384 new cases of Coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 36 points up at 6,080. On the futures market the SPI is 49 points up. 

Broker moves

Morgans has rated Intega Group (ASX:ITG) as an Add. The broker believes Intega Group's FY20 earnings guidance of $30m-$31m is a good outcome given the current environment and the analyst expects lower growth in FY21 due to expected delays in large projects but has growth bouncing back in FY22. The company has flagged a backlog of work although Morgans believes there is a risk some of this project work will be deferred. Intega Group stated that it was not materially impacted by Covid-19 and it received no material government assistance. Shares in Intega Group (ASX:ITG) are trading 4.8 per cent lower at 30 cents.
 
Company news

Wisr (ASX:WRZ) has released it’s fourth-quarter operating revenue, reporting the neo-lender reached $2.9 million, up 188 per cent on the same period last year. Wisr delivered a number of growth records for the quarter, including an increase in revenue of 50% compared to Q3FY20, stating the Company’s rapid response to COVID-19 conditions, and exceptionally low exposure to high-risk sectors, has seen the lender continue to grow at pace in the fourth-quarter. Wisr CEO Anthony Nantes, Chief Executive Officer said despite maintaining a significantly tighter credit policy in response to COVID-19, as well as taking a prudent approach to loan origination, Wisr has achieved significant loan origination growth and revenue uplift for the quarter. Shares in Wisr (ASX:WRZ) are trading 3.9 per cent higher at 27 cents.

Best and worst performers 

The best-performing sector is Materials, adding 2.2 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Information Technology shedding 0.5 per cent. 

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Credit Corp Group (ASX:CCP), rising 12.5 per cent to $19, followed by shares in Nufram (ASX:NUF) and Perenti Global (ASX:PRN)

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Waypoint REIT (ASX:WPR), dropping 4 per cent to $2.62, followed by shares in Perpetual (ASX:PPT) and Challenger (ASX:CGF)

Commodities and the dollar 

Gold hit a new high and is trading at US$1,973 an ounce. 
Iron ore price fell 1.6 per cent to US$107.68 
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.7 per cent. 
One Australian dollar is buying 71.65 US cents. 
 

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