Australia Market recoups ground

Headline indices of the Australian share market closed higher on Thursday, 15 November 2018, as rebound in energy stocks helped to offset losses in financials and materials sectors. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index inclined 3.25 points, or 0.06%, at 5,736.02 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 2.93 points, or 0.05%, to 5,825.21 points.

Shares of energy companies closed higher, on the back of slightly higher oil prices. Woodside Petroleum was up 1.5% to A$33.06, WorleyParsons rose 4.3% to A$14.79, Santos advanced 2.5% to A$6.21 and Beach Energy added 3.7% higher to A$1.68.

Shares of banks and financials were lower, with Commonwealth Bank led the fall, closing 0.5% lower at A$68.86, Westpac fell 0.4% to A$25.34, NAB slid 0.2% to A$23.88 and ANZ closed flat at A$25.39.

Shares of materials companies were down, with heavyweight BHP Billiton fell 0.2% to A$32.04, Rio Tinto closed 0.8% lower at A$77.84 and South32 slid 0.6% to A$3.33.

Among individual stocks, GrainCorp shares fell 1.4% to A$7.80 after the grain handler warned tough times were still ahead. On Thursday, the company reported its net profit after tax had slumped to $71 million, down almost 44% on the previous year.

Aveo Group closed 4.4% lower at A$1.63 after Macquarie and Morgans downgraded their recommendations on the stock. The retirement operator declined to provide earnings guidance at its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday despite saying residential markets were negative.

G8 Education shares surged 11.6% to A$2.69 after the childcare centre operator said it intended to offload up to eight loss-making childcare centres. The company also signalled an improving outlook, with better occupancy rates in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Jobless Rate Steady At 5.0% In October --Australia jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.0% in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, unchanged from the September reading. The Australian economy added 32,800 jobs last month to 12,671,500, following the addition of 7,800 jobs in the previous month.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was up against greenback and other major currencies on Thursday. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7236, up from $0.7219 on Wednesday.

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