It was a strong opening this morning for the Australian share market, which surged 20 points within the first 15 minutes. Since then, the market has been hovering around a narrow range and has finished the day 0.29% higher.
Since the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes were released this morning (in which the board favoured increasing interest rates gradually), the Australian dollar strengthened, rising above the US73c mark.
Out of the Big Four banks, NAB was the best performer (rising 0.9%), while CBA had the least gains at 0.3%.
Onec again, gold mining companies are performing strongly thanks to increasing gold prices – with Newcrest Mining in particular seeing a rise in its share price of 9% since the start of the week.
At the close of trade, the S&P/ASX 200 index finished 17 points higher at 5,753 points.
The value of trades was $3.6 billion on volume of 524 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were Commonwealth Bank
(ASX:CBA), ANZ Bank
(ASX:ANZ) and BH Billiton
(ASX:BHP).
On the futures market the SPI is 18 points higher.
Economic newsThe Australian Industry Group has released the December figures for its performance of services index. It’s a measure of how the services sector is performing, and it looks quite positive. Last month, it rose 6.6 points to a reading of 57.7 – its highest monthly result in a decade, and its third straight month of expansion.
Company newsWorleyParsons’
(ASX:WOR) contract to provide project management and design engineering services for Aramco has been renewed for an additional 5 years. Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s national oil and gas company. After the initial 5-year period, WorleyParsons can have its contract extended by by up to three 1-year increments. Shares in WorleyParsons are up 2.42% to $10.15.
Standard and Poor’s has upgraded gold miner St Barbara Limited’s
(ASX:SBM) credit rating from B to B+ with a stable outlook.
Also, Boart Longyear Limited
(ASX:BLY) has secured a US$20 million credit facility from Centrebridge Partners, its largest equity and debt investor.
Lucapa Diamond Company Limited
(ASX:LOM) says, in the December 2016 quarter, it reached its highest level of quarterly production during the Angolan wet season.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector was Energy adding 1.21 per cent to 9,224. The worst performing sector was Discretionaries, losing 0.26 per cent to 2,159 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Vocus Communications
(ASX:VOC), rising 6.17 per cent to close at $4.30. Shares in St Barbara
(ASX:SBM) and Saracen Minerals
(ASX:SAR) also finished higher.
The worst performing stock was Orocobre
(ASX:ORE), dropping 2.97 per cent to close at $4.24. Shares in Macquarie Atlas Roads
(ASX:MQA) and Asaleo Care
(ASX:AHY) also closed lower.
CommoditiesGold has risen to $US1,174 an ounce.
Light crude has gained $1.02 to $US53.35 a barrel.
The Australian dollar has risen to $US0.7307.