Janison Education (ASX:JAN) brings PBTS test platform to Portugal: Aus shares 0.5% higher at noon
It’s been a positive start to the day for the Australian share market. After opening higher, the market made ground over the morning and is now tracking 0.5 per cent higher at noon. Link Administration Holdings (ASX:LNK) has been a star performer this morning after its announcement that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pepper European Servicing for an upfront consideration of $266 million. The tech sector is leading the way this morning, with Real Estate Investment Trusts weighing heaviest on the market.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 36 point higher at 7,045. On the futures market the SPI is up 40 points.
Local economic news
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released figures for Producer Price Indexes for December 2019. Final demand (excluding exports) rose 0.3 per cent compared to the previous quarter. The index was up 1.4 per cent over the 12 months to the December 2019 quarter.
Company news
Janison Education Group (ASX:JAN) in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is bringing the PBTS test to Portugal. Janison signed a two-year agreement with the National Service Provider in Portugal to provide the digital assessment platform that will power PBTS in the spring of 2020. This follows the platform’s roll out in Brazil, Russia and the USA in the second half of 2019. These four countries are expected to deliver approximately $1.2 million of annual recurring licence revenue in the first year with a view to expanding this in year two and beyond as the test coverage increases within each country. Shares in Janison Education Group (ASX:JAN) are trading 1.1 per cent higher at 46 cents.
IPOs
Cobre (ASX:CBE) started trading today. The company which is focused on the exploration and discovery of new high-grade base metal deposits floated with an issue price of 20 cents, opened at 23 cents and currently trading at 25.5 cents.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Information technology, adding 1.7 per cent, while the worst performing sector, and the only one in the red is Real Estate Investment Trusts, shedding 0.2 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Link Administration Holdings (ASX:LNK) rising 11.3 per cent to $6.91, followed by shares in Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) and GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), dropping 4.7 per cent to $1.43 followed by shares in Adelaide Brighton (ASX:ABC) and PolyNovo (ASX:PNV).
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1,572 an ounce.
Iron ore price fell 2.2 per cent to US$84.94.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 2.3 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.27 US cents.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
