News of COVID-19 vaccine candidates lifted the market: ASX closed 1.8% higher
It has been a positive day of trade for the Australian share market it managed to maintain momentum with the local bourse closing 1.8 per cent higher. Shares in Unibal-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX:URW) rose today after France and Germany proposed a 500 billion euro recovery fund for the pandemic. The company has shopping centres in Europe. Building products manufacturer James Hardie (ASX:JHX) shares have seen a leap today after reporting a 6 per cent increase in full-year profit today. Meanwhile shares in Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN) are down.
The S&P/ASX200 index
At the closing bell the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 99 points higher to finish at 5,560
Futures market
Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 16 points.
S&P 500 futures are eyeing a fall of 1 points.
The Nasdaq futures are eyeing a rise of 6 points.
And the ASX200 futures are eyeing a 69 point rise tomorrow morning.
Local economic news
Minutes from the Reserve Bank's May meeting on policy show it expects inflation to remain below the bottom of its 2 per cent range for "the next few years".
Company news
Cloud call recording service Dubber Corporation (ASX:DUB) has entered into a binding agreement to acquire CallN. CallN owns and operates an Australian-headquartered call recording business, that provides an on-premise call recording solution with storage in the cloud. Under the terms of the agreement, Dubber will acquire all of the issued capital of CallN for a purchase price of over $1 million. Shares in Dubber Corporation (ASX:DUB) closed 1.3 per cent lower at $1.18.
Cochlear (ASX:COH) today announced that the United States Court of Appeals has denied its petition for a rehearing of the appeal in the patent infringement case against them. On 17 March 2020, Cochlear announced that the Court of Appeals affirmed the US District Court award of USD $268 million in patent infringement damages against Cochlear and its US subsidiary Cochlear Americas in the lawsuit by the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research and Advanced Bionics LLC.
Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN) report continued sales growth seeing sales up 13.2 per cent, during the second half to May 17th. They saw comparable store sales growth of 8.1 per cent.
Centuria Property Funds, the responsible entity for Centuria Office REIT (ASX:COF), has secured a seven year debt facility from the world’s largest cooperative financial institution Credit Agricole. The new facility increases undrawn debt to $131.5 million and increases the number of debt lenders to five.
Best and worst performers of the day
The best performing sector was Energy adding 4.2 per cent while the worst performing sector was Healthcare, shedding 0.9 per cent.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Unibal-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX:URW) closing 11. 4 per cent higher to $4.09, followed by shares in James Hardie Industry (ASX:JHX) and Worley (ASX:WOR).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN) dropping 4.1 per cent to $11.93, followed by shares in Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) and Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR).
Asian markets
Higher: Japan’s Nikkei has added 1.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has added 1.7 per cent and the Shanghai Composite has added 0.7 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1,734 an ounce.
Iron ore price has gained 3.4 per cent at US$96.84.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 2.3 per cent.
Light crude is US$0.46 up at US$34.53 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 65.38 US cents.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
