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Local shares are off to a buoyant start to the last month of 2017 as it rebounds from yesterday’s weakness. The ASX 200 has recouped a fair chunk of the 41 point loss from the day before. The index is 30 points or 0.5% higher and just a touch above 6000pts at the time of writing. Wall Street provided a strong lead in with further positive news on US tax reforms boosting US financials in particular. While gains have been across most sectors on the ASX, financials and energy stocks have contributed most to the gains back home with the big four banks shrugging off concerns of the baking royal commission, for now, to all be in positive territory. ANZ and Westpac (WBC) are outperforming with gains of 0.8% and 1.1% respectively.
Energy stocks have been boosted following major oil producing nations, both OPEC and non-OPEC, agreeing to continue production cuts at a meeting in Vienna overnight. The subsequent lift in crude oil prices has given rise to oil stocks such as Woodside Petroleum (WPL) up 1.7%, with Origin Energy (ORG) gaining 2% and Oil Search 2.2% higher.
Telcos are the main weight on the market following a 0.5% dip in Telstra (TLS) shares following the company lowering its earnings guidance for FY18 due to the delayed roll out of the NBN. Income for the FY18 was lowered by ~$700 million dollars while earnings by ~$600 million. TLS reaffirmed that its total dividend will remain at $0.22.
In other company news, Premier Investments (PMV) has slipped 1.2% following its AGM today where Chairman Solomon Lew discussed its recent issues with the current Myer board and direction. A retailer to perform much better so far is Billabong (BBG), the surf wear company has received a $1.00 per share take-over offer from Boardriders, Inc which owns the Quiksilver brand. BBG shares have surged by 21% on the takeover news.
The median Sydney home price has fallen for a third consecutive month according to a Corelogic home value index in November with a 0.7% fall for the month. The annual return for Sydney property is down to 5%. Canberra and Hobart had the biggest gains for November with prices rising 0.9% and 0.6% respectively. The Aussie dollar is trading near its lows of the past two days at US75.65 cents.
So far, 2.4B units have traded hands worth $2.2B. 603 stocks are higher, 539 lower and 349 unchanged.
Originally published by CommSec