The ASX200 has been trading mostly flat – down about 0.04 per cent.
The Real Estate sector has plunged nearly 2 per cent today ahead of global interest rates policy announcements. The RBA has begun two days of meetings to decide its next move, however it is widely tipped that rates will be kept on hold in Australia.
Financials and Materials are the strongest performing sectors – both up around a quarter of a per cent – hanging in there as iron ore has recovered after dipping today below US$100 dollars a tonne.
In other business news, taxi drivers and taxi licence holders in Australia are set to receive A$271.8 million in the fifth largest class action settlement in the country’s history. The payment will compensate taxi industry for lost income and licence values. More than 8000 drivers and taxi owners have been involved in the class action. The settlement is expected to end a trial which has been underway in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media Group (ASX:SXL) has been trading up more than 1.5 per cent as its Board considers a request from Citicorp Nominees, which holds more than 5 per cent of company votes, to remove chairman Rob Murray as a director. It comes while ARN Media (ASX:A1N) and Anchorage Capital Partners seek to acquire 100 per cent of Southern Cross.
Southern Cross has been trading at 97.5 cents.
Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) has gained .2 of a per cent on news it’s buying Poseidon Nickel’s (ASX:POS) WA-based Lake Johnston nickel concentrator plant to convert it into a ‘lithium processing hub’ in a deal worth $15 million.
Lake Johnston has a nickel concentrator plant with a flotation circuit with a front-end capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year. It has an airstrip, a 200-person camp and laboratories.
MIN has been trading at $66.04. Poseidon shareholders aren’t so excited by the news, the stock has dropped 12.5 per cent to point-7 of a cent.
South32 (ASX:S32) has temporarily shutdown its Groote Eylandt manganese operations in the Northern Territory after Cyclone Megan damaged the wharf.
Given that the mine is an open-cut operation, the company has flagged the potential that production will be impacted.
A further update on sales volumes will be issued ‘when access to the port and other infrastructure is restored’.
S32 has been trading at $3.11.
And Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) reported a 161 per cent increase in US sales compared to the same period last year.
Quarter-on-quarter growth reached 8.3 per cent.
Bubs’ CEO Reg Weine said if the momentum was maintained, the company could be cash flow positive and trading EBIT positive in FY25.
BUB has been trading at 13.5 cents.