Energy rallies as Tech drags, IDP Education jumps 17%: ASX trading 0.3% higher at noon

Market Reports

by Lauren Evans

The Australian sharemarket has been in positive territory trading 0.26 per cent higher or 19.1 points at 7284.70 at noon. The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 21 points.

The local bourse followed a strong lead from Wall St and despite its bounce back from yesterday’s start to the financial year, dipped on news around the rising number of Covid-19 cases shy of midday.

Nearly all the sectors have advanced with Energy as the best performer amid rising oil prices followed by Industrials and Consumer Discretionary. Technology is lagging as the worst performing sector down 0.5 per cent.

The best performing stock is IDP Education (ASX:IEL) trading 17.74 per cent higher following news released yesterday to acquire India’s IELTs operations while the worst performer is intellectual property services provider IPH (ASX:IPH) trading 5.40 per cent lower at $7.53 after investors digested their $5 million spend to acquire Applied Marks.

The banks are mixed with ANZ taking charge out of the pack (ASX:ANZ) trading 0.75 per cent higher at $28.23.

Heavyweight miners are mixed with BHP (ASX:BHP) up 0.6 per cent at $48.49 while Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) down 0.3 per cent with iron ore futures pointing to a 1.3 per cent fall.
 
Local economic news

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released the 'Investor housing loan commitments' from May. New housing loan commitments rose 4.9 per cent in May 2021 (seasonally adjusted) to a new high of $32.6 billion, driven by investor housing loan commitments.

Company news

Catapult Group International (ASX:CAT) has announced the completion of a strategic acquisition of leading sports software video solutions provider SBG Sports Software.

Thiess, a 50 per cent-owned associate of CIMIC (ASX:CIM), has been selected by MACH Energy as the preferred mining services contractor for MACH's Mount Pleasant Operation in New South Wales. The scope of the operation includes constructing a new coal preparation plant, rail loop, mine infrastructure area, water management system and supporting facilities.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is Energy, up 1.86 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Information Technology, down 0.75 per cent.

The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is IDP Education (ASX:IEL), trading 17.61 per cent higher at $28.78. It is followed by shares in Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) and Nuix (ASX:NXL).

The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is IPH (ASX:IPH), trading 5.40 per cent lower at $7.53. It is followed by shares in Megaport (ASX:MP1) and InvoCare (ASX:IVC).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1778.88 an ounce.
Iron ore is 2.40 per cent higher at US$219.32 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 1.30 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 74.61 US cents.


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