Financials defy recession odds: Aus shares close 0.8% higher

The Australian share market shot up at the open following strong performance levels on Wall Street, especially record highs on the Nasdaq and S&P 500.Australia has recorded a $4.6 billion trade surplus for July, a drop of $3.5 billion. The big four banks all made gains of up to 2 per cent, as financials closed 1.3 per cent higher to keep the ASX in positive territory.

The S&P/ASX200 index

At the closing bell, the ASX closed 0.8 per cent higher or 49 points up at 6113.

Futures market are proving to be softer

Dow futures are suggesting a fall of 82 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a dip of 12 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a fall of 46 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 53 point rise tomorrow morning.

Local economic news

The balance on goods and services fell $3,542m to $4,607m in July 2020. That’s according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Goods and services credits fell 4 per cent, and goods and services debits rose 7 per cent.

Company news

Austal (ASX:ASB) has delivered its 12th Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ship, USNS Newport (EPF 12) to the United States Navy from Alabama.

The Spearhead-class EPF is a 103-metre high-speed aluminium catamaran with a medium-lift helicopter deck and capacity of over 300 embarked troops; providing a fast, high-payload transport capability to combatant commanders around the world.

This brings the total number of ships delivered to the Navy by Austal USA to 24 in ten years, including three this year.

Shares in Austal (ASX:ASB) closed 0.3 per cent higher at $3.40

More headlines

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has been awarded $1 million in matched funding by the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund Biomedical Translation Bridge Program. The money is to expedite development and commercialisation of its Covid-19 antiviral nasal spray.

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with California-based Varian Medical Systems, to evaluate the use of advanced prostate cancer imaging within Varian’s radiation treatment planning platform.

Regis Recourses (ASX:RRL) has completed its acquisition of valuable resource and tenement holdings at the Ben Hur Deposit from Stone Resources Australia (ASX:SHK).

Best and worst performers of the day

The best performing sector was Real Estate Investment Trusts adding 1.6 per cent while the worst performing sector was Materials shedding 0.5 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was SkyCity Entertainment Group (ASX:SKC), rising 7.4 per cent higher to close at $2.48. Shares in Credit Corp Group (ASX:CCP) and ADBRI (ASX:ABC) followed.

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX:SKI), dropping 6.1 per cent to close at $2.17 cents. Shares in Perseus Mining (ASX:SKC) and Corporate Travel Management (ASX:DOW) followed lower.

Asian markets

Mixed: Japan’s Nikkei has gained almost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also lost 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite is 0.3 per cent down.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,937 an ounce.
Iron ore price added 2.1 per cent to US$127.31.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.2 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.06 down at US$42.16 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 73.08 US cents.

Source: Finance News Network