The Australian share market fell at the opening and is now tracking 1.1 per cent or 77.4 points lower at 7270.7. The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 96 points.
Major Banks and miners dragged the index lower. Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) is trading 2.3 per cent lower, followed by BHP
(ASX:BHP), down 2.6 per cent, and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG), down 0.5 per cent.
NAB
(ASX:NAB) is leading the slope down 1.9 per cent. Westpac
(ASX:WBC) is down 1.8 per cent, followed by Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA), down 1.4 per cent, and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ), down 1.3 per cent.
Oil Search's
(ASX:OSH) Managing Director has stepped down following behaviour complaints from the board, which has named Peter Fredricson as Acting Chief Executive. The company is down 3.1 per cent at $3.75. Santos
(ASX:STO) is also down 2.4 per cent, followed by Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL), down 1.8 per cent.
Nick Scali Furniture
(ASX:NKC) is in a trading hold pending the acquisition of the Plush sofa chain.
Multinational software corporation Altium
(ASX:ALU) is down 8.9 per cent as the worst-performing stock. The best-performing stock is PolyNovo
(ASX:PNV), trading 4.1 per cent higher.
NSW has recorded 98 new covid-19 cases, while Victoria recorded 18 cases.
Company newsDual-listed gold producer OceanaGold
(ASX:OGC) has seen a bright spot in their preliminary second quarter results they released after market close on Friday, 15 July.
Australia's largest mobile phone network Telstra
(ASX:TLS) has confirmed it has been in discussions to buy Digicel Pacific, in partnership with the Federal Government.
Vulcan Energy's
(ASX:VUL) binding lithium hydroxide offtake term sheet has signed with LG Energy Solution (LGES) for their global Zero Carbon LithiumTM project.
Stockland
(ASX:SGP) has announced that it has entered into binding agreements to acquire Queensland based Halcyon Group’s land lease communities business for $620 million plus transaction costs and subject to certain adjustments at completion.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Health Care, up 1.5 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Materials, down 2.4 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is PolyNovo
(ASX:PNV), trading 4.1 per cent higher at $2.15. It is followed by shares in Deterra
(ASX:DRR) and Domino Pizza Enterprises
(ASX:DMP).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Altium
(ASX:ALU), trading 8.9 per cent lower at $33.30. It is followed by shares in Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) and Chalice Mining
(ASX:CHN).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1813.14 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.3 per cent lower at US$221.43 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 2.0 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.83 US cents.
