Aerometrex flies high following IPO: ASX tracking flat at midday

The Australian share market has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride this morning and is now riding flat at just 0.01 per cent lower at noon. Shares in The A2 Milk company (ASX:A2M) rose today after yesterday’s news that CEO Jayne Hrdlicka is set to leave. The company’s former CEO, Geoffrey Babidge, will replace her on an interim basis. Shares on the decline are the Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC), and Avita Medical (ASX:AVH). Healthcare is leading the index today with Energy coming in behind.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 1 point down at 6,729. On the futures market the SPI is flat.

Local economic news

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says the cheque is on its way out as Australians move to tap-and-go and other electronic forms of payment. He was speaking at the Australian Payments Network Summit in Sydney this morning.

ABS

Filled jobs in the Health care and social assistance industry increased by 8.2 per cent over the year to September 2019, more than any other industry, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Company news

Australia’s largest wood fibre exporter, Midway (ASX:MWY) has negotiated its first export price contract at $US175.00 per bone dry tonne (BDT) on an freeon-board (FOB) basis with a major Chinese customer. Midway Manager Director, Tony Price says the contract price was only $US7.00 BDT lower than this year and will be partially, if not wholly offset by the lower Australian dollar if exchange rates are sustained at current levels for the rest of the financial year.
Shares in Midway (ASX:MWY) is trading flat at $1.97.

IPO

Adelaide based Aerometrex (ASX:AMX) started trading today. They are a professional aerial mapping business, specialising in aerial photography as well as LiDAR and aerial surveying. They floated with an issue price of $1.00, opened at $2.00 and currently trading at $1.91.

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is healthcare, adding 0.7 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Energy, shedding 0.6 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Orocobre (ASX:ORE) rising 4.1 per cent to $2.54, followed by shares in The A2 Milk company (ASX:A2M) and Polynovo (ASX:PNV).

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC), dropping 3.6 per cent to $18.06, followed by shares in Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) and Perenti Global (ASX:PRN).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,462 an ounce.
Iron ore price rose 5.5 per cent to US$93.93
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 2.4 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 68.24 US cents.

Source: Finance News Network