The Australian share market opened the trading week with a bang, jumping over the 6,000 hurdle in the first 10 minutes of trade, really taking the lead from Wall Street after the tech heavy Nasdaq closed at a record high and the Dow gained about 1.8 per cent after US jobs rose by 313,000, smashing through 200,000 expected.
Most of the sectors are charging forth today with energy stocks and miners in the lead, followed by industries. The only sector seeing losses today, is the property sector.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 38 points up or 0.7 per cent higher at 6,001. On the futures market the SPI is 43 points higher.
Company news Westfield
(ASX:WFD) advised it will hold its AGM on the same day shareholders vote to combine Westfield with Europe’s Unibail-Rodamco, all on the 24 May 2018. However, Westfield says the meeting date and the AGM may be held later though, depending on the regulatory approval by European and Australian authorities. Westfield
(ASX:WFD) shares are trading 1.7 per cent lower at $8.55
Spark NZ
(ASX:SKI) announced it will move away from a hierarchical organisation structure with teams self-managing, with clear accountabilities. A few positions have been reshuffled as well, while the CEO of Spark Ventures will also leave the business by the end of June. The business leadership changes will come into play on 1 July 2018, aimed at strengthening its FY19 finances. The changes will not affect FY18. Shares in Spark NZ
(ASX:SKI) are trading 0.4 per cent lower at $2.32.
Teleco, 5G Networks
(ASX:5GN) has snapped up Asia Pacific Telecommunications Group (APTel) in a $6 million structured deal. The deal will increase the Melbourne based company’s revenue and EBITDA levels and will allow them to meet the modem demands of the mid-tier business market for broadband and cloud services. The also plans to raise about $3.5 million in capital at 60 cents per share. Its shares are trading 4.1 per cent higher at $0.76.
Best and worst performersThe best performing sector is energy adding 1.6 per cent to 10,094 points while the worst performing sector is reits, shedding 0.3 per cent to 1,318 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is HT&E
(ASX:HT1), rising 4.5 per cent to $1.84, followed by shares in The a2 Milk Company
(ASX:A2M) and Sandfire Resources
(ASX:SFR).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM), dropping 4.9 per cent to 20.53, followed by shares in Independence Group
(ASX:IGO) and APN Outdoor Group
(ASX:APO).0020
Gold and the dollarGold is trading at $US1,322 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 78.57 US cents.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has gained 11 per cent to US$9,689, Tether is trading at US$0.99 and Ethererum has gained about 7 per cent to US$728
