After a drop at the open the Australian share market couldn’t pull back up and at the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 32 points lower, or 0.5 per cent lower to finish at 6,795.
Futures marketDow futures are suggesting a fall of 26 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 4 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing fall of 33 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 37 point fall tomorrow morning
Economic newsAbout one in five (18%) people expect their household finances will improve over the next 12 months, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics household impacts of covid-19 survey.
Company newsCIMIC Group’s
(ASX:CIM) UGL, as part of an alliance, has reached contract award with Rail Projects Victoria for the Gippsland Line Upgrade, which will improve rail services for Victoria’s Gippsland line. The project, which is expected to start over the next few weeks, will deliver revenue to UGL of approximately $124 million. UGL was selected as preferred tenderer for the project in December 2020. Shares in CIMIC Group
(ASX:CIM) closed 1.3 per cent lower at $18.81.
Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) today announced that it was bringing together the leadership of its Consumer and Business divisions into a new Consumer & Business Banking division. The new division will be led by the current Chief Executive, Consumer, Chris de Bruin.
AFT Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:AFP) has signed a new commercialisation and development agreement for its orphan drug Pascomer. The agreement covers 27 countries within the European Union.
Best and worst performers of the dayThe best performing sector was Communication Services adding 1 per cent while the worst performing sector was Materials shedding 1.5 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Collins Foods
(ASX:CKF), rising 5.3 per cent to close at $10.67. Shares in Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
(ASX:URW) and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:CUV) followed.
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Corporate Travel Management
(ASX:CTD), dropping 5.6 per cent to close at $21.00. Shares in Inghams Group
(ASX:ING) and Omni Bridgeway
(ASX:OBL) followed.
Asian marketsLower: Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has lost 0.5 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1,736 an ounce.
Iron ore price is steady US$168.26.
Its futures are pointing to a rise of 0.8 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.23 up at US$61.33 barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.30 US cents.
