Australian stocks struggled to find any momentum on Monday, with the key index finishing barely changed as investors awaited Wall Street to resume trading after the Labour Day long weekend.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index drifted 0.4 points, or 0.01 percent, lower to 3,576.9 latest data showed, pausing after last week's rally to a record high of 3,595.0.
Turnover was well below the A$2.2 billion average at A$1.5 billion ($1.0 billion). There was no major action among the top 200 stocks, but drugs maker and wholesaler Australian Pharmaceutical Industries jumped 14.6 percent to A$2.90 after it agreed to buy health and lifestyle retailer New Price Retail for A$112 million, more than doubling its retail shop-fronts.
Among small caps, Senetas Corp, soared 41.2 percent to 12 cents in heavy volume after the IT consulting firm said it forecast a net profit over A$5 million this year from recent sales of its CTAM high-speed network security products. In the top 200 stocks, paper maker PaperlinX lost 4.4 percent, or 24 cents, to A$5.21 as it traded ex-dividend by 14 cents, while oil refiner and marketer Caltex fell 17 cents to A$9.23 as it went ex-dividend by 14 cents.
But helping to underpin the overall market, media giant News Corp added 0.6 percent to A$11.08, its preferred shares put on 0.5 percent to A$10.53, and blue chip miner BHP Billiton gained 0.3 percent to A$13.32.
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