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Aussie shares are bouncing back from a softer start to the day, with the ASX 200 index up 0.1 per cent at lunch. This puts the market on track to have its best week since early July and has also hit fresh 10.5 year highs. The ASX 200 remains above 6300pts for the third day, however over the past couple of months has struggled to stay above the levelfor very long.
Last night, US markets rebounded strongly and were encouraged by news the US and China are planning to hold fresh trade talks in Washington mid next week. While there may be few if any positive outcomes from the meetings it has been perceived by the market as a step in the right direction.
The price of oil regained some of its lost ground last night, lifting by around 0.7 per cent and helping energy stocks like Woodside (WPL) and Oil Search (OSH) to lift modestly.
Mining stocks remain the worst performers of the week, following generally softer commodity prices in recent days. The sector has shed around 3 per cent of its value in five days and has been impacted partly by a firmer greenback on geopolitical issues overseas.
Friday marks a quieter day on the earnings front, however there have been some standouts. Online retailer, Kogan.com (KGN) is up almost 8 per cent after announcing a near 50 per cent lift in sales of its products and services. Profits have more than doubled to $14.1m over the year thanks to improved margins.
Property group, Goodman (GMG) is up 2 per cent after flagging bigger profits ahead in 2019 and handing down a lift in earnings to $1.1bn over 2018.
Link Administration (LNK) is up 7 per cent after the share registry firm posted a 67 per cent lift in annual earnings to $141.7m. Downer EDI (DOW) is up 3.5 per cent as the engineering firm received a number of broker upgrades.
Of the approximately 50 large companies out with their results this week, the shares of only a handful have lost ground. The vast majority have improved. Some of the best performers have been Kogan.com (KGN), JB Hi-Fi (JBH), Link (LNK), Telstra (TLS) and QBE Insurance (QBE).
882.9m shares have changed hands so far today worth $2.2bn. 620 stocks are up, 394 are down and 362 are flat.
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