The local share market has finished the session lower. The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 11.4 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6156, declining for a third straight session. It wasn’t all bad news Coca Cola Amatil shot up 16.3 per cent to $12.50 and that helped to lift the consumer staples sector today. Meantime Link Administration finished 0.8 per cent up after receiving a higher takeover bid from a private equity consortium. The materials sector dragged with BHP shedding 0.8 per cent while Fortescue dropped 0.66 per cent. Steep falls in commodity prices including iron ore, coking coal and crude oil contributing to the losses there. The big four banks also finished in the red Westpac finished the day 0.40 per cent lower after disclosing a $1.2 billion hit to its earnings.
FuturesUS futures are all lower the Dow futures are suggesting a fall of 152 points. S&P 500 futures are eyeing a drop of 18 points. The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a drop of 44 points. And the SPI futures are eyeing a fall of 11 points tomorrow morning
Broker callsCredit Suisse has upgraded CSR to outperform from neutral . The broker is encouraged by both industry assessment and approvals data that show strength in non-residential construction, particularly government-exposed sectors. CSR closed 2.8 per cent higher to $4.72.
Company newsNick Scali
(ASX:NCM) has upgraded its guidance following a solid start to the new financial year, with sales up 45 per cent on the same period a year ago. The company had previously been forecasting net profit would be 50 to 60 per cent more than the previous year. The Company now anticipates that it will be 70-80 per cent more than the 2020 financial year. Shares in Nick Scali closed 5.9 per cent lower at $8.42.
Coca-Cola Amatil
(ASX:CCL) chairman Ilana Atlas says the $9.3 billion bid from the European arm of Coca-Cola for the business, at $12.75 per share, was strong enough to be referred to shareholders despite it being underneath Amatil's highest stock price this year.
Carlyle Group and Pacific Equity Partners have upped their offer for Link Administration Holdings
(ASX:LNK) to a cash price of $5.40 per share. It comes after the consortium’s earlier $2.8 billion offer was rebuffed.
Westpac
(ASX:WBC) has flagged that its cash earnings will be hit by a $1.2 billion blow as the bank writes down the value of its Life Insurance business, pays penalties and repays customers.
IPO’sOnline payments platform Zebit
(ASX:ZBT) has tumbled on its debut on the ASX, with its shares shedding nearly 20 per cent inside the opening minutes of trade. The company began had listing at a price of $1.58 opened at $1.50 and closed at $1.05
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is consumer staples gaining 0.8 per cent while the consumer discretionary sector is lagging behind shedding 0.8 per cent. The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Coca Cola Amatil
(ASX:CCL) rising 16.3 per cent to $12.50, followed by shares in IDP Education
(ASX:IEL) and Iluka Resources
(ASX:ILU) The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Austal
(ASX:ASB) dropping 6.9 per cent lower to $2.95 , followed by shares in Deterra
(ASX:DRR) and EML Payments
(ASX:EML).
Asian marketsMostly Lower: Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.1 per cent Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is flat and the Shanghai Composite has fallen 0.8 per cent.
Commodities.Gold is trading at US$1,896 an ounce.
Iron ore has shed 3.6 per to $115.60
Iron ore futures are suggesting a fall of 3.3 per cent.
Light crude has shed 74 cents to $39.11
One Australian dollar is buying 71.15 US cents.
