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Australian shares have bounced off intraday lows to trade just a couple of points firmer at lunch thanks to gains from most of the banks and miners. The ASX 200 is up by 0.03 per cent after being down as much as 0.25 per cent on the open following a mixed finish on Wall Street. Should the market avoid a fall of 1.1 per cent or more Friday, equities will snap a three-week losing streak.
Some risks still remains in coming days, included the G7 meetings in Quebec, Canada and the Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un next Tuesday.
Tabcorp (TAH) said it is discussing the potential sale of its underperforming UK betting business, Sun Bets. The division lost $20m in the first half of this financial year.
Infant formula company, Bubs Australia (BUB) is up 3 per cent after signing a deal to sell its products through Alibaba’s Tmall platform. The online retailer in China has more than 500 million monthly users and is considered to be one of the world’s top 20 most visited websites.
AMP Limited (AMP) is up slightly but has slumped this week after facing a fourth class action, is down 30 per cent this year and is set to be removed from the ASX 20.
Rio Tinto (RIO) is up 0.6 per cent. Australia’s largest iron ore miner has formalised a 50:50 joint venture for mineral exploration in China with state owned miner, Minmetals.
Commodity prices were mostly firmer overnight. Oil rose by 1.9 per cent on some doubts OPEC will decide to lift oil production. Speculation of a supply lift has pushed oil down ~10 per cent in just two weeks.
Copper hit a four-year high, lifting by 1.7 per cent on fears of potential strike action in Chile at the world’s largest copper mine (Escondida).
Retail Food Group (RFG) is down 4.5 per cent and is falling for a seventh straight day. The owner of Gloria Jeans warned of a near $90m loss this year on Tuesday and will be removed from the ASX 200 on 18 June.
No economic data is due for release today. However, figures on international trade in China is expected today and will receive some attention.
1.7bn shares have changed hands so far today worth $1.7bn. 494 stocks are up, 504 down and 398 are flat.
Published by CommSec