The ASX200 has been up 0.2% at 8,450 points in afternoon trade.
IT has been the strongest performing sector, up 1.2%, followed by Staples, up 0.65%, and Discretionary, up 0.55%. Health Care has been the worst performer, down 0.45%, followed by Utilities, down 0.4%.
Company News
Telstra (ASX:TLS) has been up 0.65% on news it acquired Boost Mobile for around $140M. Boost has more than one million users and its pre-paid SIM cards are sold in 10,000 shops around Australia, including Woolworths and Coles.
Telstra has been $3.96.
Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) will acquire De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) in a $5 billion deal. Australia’s biggest gold miner will now own the next major gold mine in an environment of record gold prices. The move will consolidate Northern Star’s position as a top 10 global gold producer.
De Grey Mining has been up 26% at $1.92 and Northern Star Resources has been down 7.5% at $16.20.
And Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) has been up 18.9% on news of another massive sulphide intercept at its Oval Copper Nickel PGE project in Mongolia. The latest intercept likely indicates an almost flat orientation of massive sulphide along the general strike direction of the Oval intrusive body.
Asian Battery Metals has been 6.3 cents.