It has been a positive day of trade for the Australian share market. The ASX200 index rose in early trade, and tracked sideways for most of the day to close 1.5 per cent higher. Shares in the Big 4 banks jumped today on news that the Federal government is looking to ease responsible lending laws. All this as Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor Guy Debelle announced this week that current monetary policy settings were inadequate and more should be done to support a recovery from what he called “the largest peacetime economic contraction since the 1930s”. He warned that the post Covid-19 recovery was not likely to be the V-shaped bounce investors were hoping for, but rather a “slow grind”.
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 89 points higher to finish at 5,965.
Over the week, the market has gained 100 points or 1.7 per cent.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a rise of 102 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a rise of 11 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a lift of 28 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 84 point rise Monday morning.
Economic newsThe Australian Bureau of Statistics released preliminary international trade figures for the month of August. Australian goods exported in August declined around 2 per cent month on month; while goods imported were down around 7 per cent.
Company news Cue Energy Resources
(ASX:CUE) and Cue Resources Inc are part of a litigation in Texas which has recently settled. The companies were named as defendants, along with a number of other companies in the Hammerhead Managing Partners, LLC v. Nostra Terra Oil & Gas Company case. Cue Energy confirms that the parties to the litigation have entered into a settlement agreement that fully and finally concludes the litigation and dismisses it in its entirety. The company contributed US$350,000 to the settlement amount. Shares in Cue Energy Resources
(ASX:CUE) closed 2.9 per cent higher at $0.18.
Retinal disease player Opthea
(ASX:OPT) has revealed plans to list American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq index.
Vulcan Energy Resources
(ASX:VUL) has announced that a former director of Tesla will be joining Vulcan’s business development team.
Vista Group
(ASX:VGL) has purchased the remaining 50 per cent of Maccs International B.V for a net payment of €1.1 million.
BGH Capital’s subsidiary which is set to purchase Village Roadshow
(ASX:VRL) may not have to pay the cinema uplift of $0.08 per share.
IPOsNew Zealand Oil & Gas
(ASX:NZO) started trading today. The oil and gas exploration and production company has producing assets and exploration interests in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia. It opened at $0.75 and closed at $0.75.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best-performing sector was Financials, adding 3.7 per cent, while the worst-performing sector, and the only sector in the red, was Health Care, shedding 0.2 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC), rising 8 per cent to close at $1.01. Shares in Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) and National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) followed.
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Monadelphous Group
(ASX:MND), dropping 4 per cent to close at $10.30. Shares in Flight Centre Travel Group
(ASX:FLT) and Tassal Group
(ASX:TGR) followed.
Asian marketsMixed: Japan’s Nikkei has gained 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has gained 0.2 per cent.
Wall Street Wrapped up our four trading days this week lower: The Dow Jones lost 3.1 per cent, The S&P 500 lost 2.2 per cent and the tech heavy Nasdaq shed 1.1 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar Gold is trading at US$1,869 an ounce.
The iron ore price is 0.8 per cent higher at US$114.67.
Its futures are pointing to a fall of 0.1 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.02 lower at US$40.56 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 70.61 US cents.
