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The Aussie market is looking to snap a four session losing streak with the ASX higher in the early part of the local session. The index is trading 40 points or 0.7% higher to 5682.8. It was a mixed lead from Wall Street with a flat finish for the Dow Jones but higher closes for the other major indices ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
Local resource stocks are rebounding from yesterday’s heavy losses. Energy names are improving with oil prices edging higher overnight on growing expectations that OPEC and its allies will cut production by 1-1.4 million barrels a day in a meeting at Vienna next month. Origin Energy (ORG) is 1.8% higher while Woodside (WPL) is gaining 0.9%.
After outperforming the market yesterday, healthcare stocks continue to lift the most on Thursday with a 2.4% improvement for CSL Ltd (CSL) and 3.3% advance for Cochlear (COH). Consumer Staples are higher with Treasury Wine (TWE) rising 4.3% and the a2 Milk Company jumping 9.8%. The sector is lifting despite losses for Coles Group (COL) which is 1.6% lower after yesterday’s lift, its first day of trade following the demerger from Wesfarmers (WES). WES is lower by 3%.
In company news, Mineral Resources (MIN) is surging 23% after entering into an agreement for a potential 50:50 JV with Albermarle (NYSE:ALB) of the Wodgina lithium project. ALB would pay a purchase price of US$1.15 billion for the 50% stake. MIN has also provided FY19 Earnings (EBITDA) guidance between $280 million and $320 million at its AGM today.
Webjet (WEB) has confirmed the completion of its $243M acquisition for wholesale travel business, Destinations of the World, first announced earlier this month. WEB shares are 4.7% higher. Primary Health (PRY) is gaining 5.7%. At its AGM, the company re-iterated FY19 underlying profit with 2H19 expected to be stronger than 1H19 for all divisions.
With no major economic releases scheduled today, the AUD has firmed from yesterday morning’s low and is trading near 72.6 US cents.
So far, 1.1B units have traded worth $2B with 566 stocks higher, 349 weaker and 344 unchanged.
Published by James Tao (Author), CommSec