Market Update: ASX pales but health looks rosy

The ASX200 is tracking lower than expected, down nearly a quarter of a per cent.

The health care sector is leading intraday gains, up more than 0.5%. Real estate has fallen the most, down around 0.8%, Staples follows closely behind down 0.7%

Company News

The big story of the day revolves around BHP Group’s (ASX:BHP) confirmation of a second unsuccessful takeover offer to London listed, Anglo American.

BHP proposed a deal valuing Anglo American’s share capital at £34 billion British pounds, offering Anglo American shareholders a greater stake in the combined entity.

This follows an earlier rejected proposal made on April 16th.

Despite the dip in morning trading, BHP remains optimistic about the potential value a merger could create for shareholders and has until May 22^nd to decide if it will submit another firm offer.

BHP is down around 0.15% trading at $43.23.

Arn Media Limited (ASX:A1N) Share Price | Latest News – The Market Online) continues to face challenges, following its failed partnership and takeover attempt involving Southern Cross Media yesterday.

Today the company reported that its statutory profits fell 95% compared to the previous corresponding period.

Despite this, ARN’s chair, Hamish McLennan, still remains optimistic about the potential benefits of merging with Southern Cross.

ARN has been trading at 83 cents.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) is up around 7% after it reported progress on its ability to kill cancer cells – to be further explored in a proposed Phase I and II leukaemia trial.

This came from studies looking at a combination of chemotherapeutic drugs that, when used together, are more effective at killing cancerous cells.

RAC has been trading at $1.66.

Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) has announced its exploration team has kicked off drilling on-site the company’s acreage overlying the historical Tarcoola goldfield, in South Australia.

Describing it as a “high-grade” target, the company is launching into a 7,000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign.

Barton has also recently kicked off the scoping study process at Tunkillia where the company is hoping to firm up the reality of a bulk open-pit mine.

BGD has been trading at 31.5 cents.