The Australian share market traded higher today and after a spike in late morning trade the local bourse closed 0.9 per cent up.
The materials sector rebounded with Rio Tinto making back almost 2 per cent while Oil Search gained 1.5 per cent after a rocky few weeks.
The trade deficit was also shown to have narrowed in October with the ABS offering a read on the deficit of $1.3 billion with exports up 2 per cent and imports down 2 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 47 points up to finish at 5,369.
The value of trades was $4.49 billion on volume of 729 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC).
On the futures market the SPI is 40 points up.
Company news
Shares in Santos Limited
(ASX:STO) have dropped further today and will hold back on a $733 million hybrid debt raising in Europe.
The capital raising, touted last month, will be deferred until market conditions are more conducive. Shares in Santos closed 3.85 per cent down at $8.73.
iSentia Group Limited
(ASX:ISD) has gained on signing a pioneering agreement that allows the scraping of online news and magazine content for clients.
The deal, brokered by the Copyright Agency, allows iSentia to harvest headlines and content including paywall material from Fairfax Media and NewsCorp and deliver multi platform ‘news alerts’ to clients about content directly relevant to their business. Shares in iSentia closed 0.35 per cent up at $2.85
Monadelphous Group Limited
(ASX:MND) has purchased a leading supplier of water infrastructure solutions in Australia and New Zealand.
Transfield Services Limited
(ASX:TSE) says it is continuing its 20 year relationship with Woodside Petroleum, signing a master services agreement to provide a range of implementation services to the North West Shelf project.
Woolworths Limited
(ASX:WOW) and Hills Limited
(ASX:HIL) have announced a strategic partnership that gives Woolworths exclusive rights to the Hills heritage brand.
G8 Education Limted
(ASX:GEM) has upped its guidance and lifted its annual dividend by 20 per cent.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector was materials adding 1.8 per cent to close at 8,803. The worst performing sector was utilities, losing 0.6 per cent to close at 6,029 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Liquefied Natural Gas Limited
(ASX:LNG), rising 9.09 per cent to close at $3.12. Shares in Medusa Mining Limited
(ASX:MML) and BC Iron Limited
(ASX:BCI) also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Ten Network Holdings Limited
(ASX:TEN), dropping 11.11 per cent to close at $0.20. Shares in Village Roadshow Limited
(ASX:VRL) and Skilled Group Limited
(ASX:SKE) also closed lower.
Commodities
Gold is trading at $US1,206 an ounce.
Light crude is $0.50 up at $US67.38 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.8397
