The Australian share market rose at the open and maintained momentum throughout the morning. At noon, the ASX is 0.5 per cent or 37.5 points higher at 7625.7. The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 47 points.
Technology and Health Care stocks were strong, while Miners and the Commonwealth Bank fell.
Health stocks made strong gains, with CSL
(ASX:CSL) trading 2.7 per cent higher. Sonic Health Care
(ASX:SHL) is up 1.4 per cent and Fisher and Paykel
(ASX:FPH) is up 3 per cent.
Amid the incline, BNPL star Afterpay
(ASX:APT) is up 0.8 per cent and Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) is up 0.6 cent. Payment software Zero
(ASX:XRO) is trading 2.3 per cent higher.
Major banks are higher except the Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA), which fell 1.5 per cent. Westpac
(ASX:WBC) is up 1.4 per cent, ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) is up 0.5 per cent and NAB
(ASX:NAB) is up 1.2 per cent
Iron ore prices slipped, with BHP
(ASX:BHP) down 1.3 per cent. Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) is down 1.2 per cent and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) is down 1.4 per cent.
Shares in maternity and baby goods retailer Baby Bunting
(ASX:BBN) dropped 5.3 per cent, despite a 15.6 per cent sales growth in FY21.
NSW recorded 390 new Covid-19 cases, Victoria recorded 15 new cases and Queensland recorded 7 new cases.
Company newsAir New Zealand
(ASX:AIZ) deferred its planned capital raise with Crown until the first available window in calendar year 2022.
Baby Bunting
(ASX:BBN) records total sales of $468.4 million for the period ending 30 Jun 2021 (FY21), up 15.6 per cent from the prior year.
PointsBet's
(ASX:PBH) wholly owned subsidiary PointsBet West Virginia, has launched its online sports betting operations in US West Virginia, following approval from the West Virginia lottery commission.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector is Health Care, up over 2 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Materials, down 0.4 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Premier Investments
(ASX:PMV), trading 4.9 per cent higher at $28.48. It is followed by shares in AGL Energy
(ASX:AGL) and The Star Ent Group
(ASX:SGR).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Orocobre
(ASX:ORE), trading 4.7 per cent lower at $9.49. It is followed by shares in Suncorp Group
(ASX:SUN) and EML Payments
(ASX:EML).
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1754.35 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.5 per cent lower at US$162.96 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 2.8 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.41 US cents.
