Australia Stocks end mixed

The Australian share market finished marginal higher in choppy trading on Thursday, 27 May 2021, as investors weighed the impact of Victoria's snap seven day lockdown, with shares of information technology and materials sectors were notable gainers and helped to offset losses in utilities, industrials, and consumer staples.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was marginally 2.35 points, or 0.03%, up at 7,094.87. The broader All Ordinaries added 12.41 points, or 0.17%, to 7,343.98.

Sectors ended mixed along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Total 7 of 11 S&P/ASX200 sectors ended lower, with the worst performing sector were utilities (down 1.18%), consumer staples (down 0.69%), industrials (down 0.67%), and realty (down 0.54%), while the best performing sectors were information technology (up 1.92%), materials (up 0.82%), and telecommunication services (up 0.77%).

The best performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 were AMP (up 8.45%), TPG Telecom (up 8.05%), Pilbara Minerals (up (6.17%), EML Payments (up 5.17%), and Fortescue Metals Group (up 4.95%), while the worst performing stocks were Costa Group Holdings (down 24.1%), Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (down 5.99%), Domino's Pizza Enterprises (down 4.9%), Ramsay Healthcare (down 3.47%), and Newcrest Mining (down 3.27%).

The country's second-most populous state braces for a 7-day lockdown from midnight as a cluster of COVID-19 cases grew in Victoria. Locally transmitted cases in Victoria rose by 11 in the past 24 hours to total 26 cases in the most recent cluster.

In company news, Medibank (MPL) announced several changes to its executive team structure, adding two new Group Executives for Customer Portfolios & Customer & Brands (roles replacing the Chief Customer Officer position). MPL also appointed a new Health Services executive. Its stock gained 1%.

AMP Ltd (AMP) finished 8.5% firmer. The wealth manager was served with civil proceedings at the Federal Court by ASIC, relating to charges for insurance and advice fees for deceased superannuation accounts. AMP said it had remediated $5.3m to all affected customers.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Capex Surges 6.3% On Quarter In Q1- Australia's value of total new capital expenditure was up a seasonally adjusted 6.3% on quarter in the first three months of 2021, coming in at A$31.494 billion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, following the 3.0% increase in the three months prior. Capex for buildings and structures gained 3.8% on quarter to A$16.193 billion and capex for equipment, plants and machinery jumped 9.1% to A$15.301 billion. On a yearly basis, overall capex was up 0.8%, buildings and structures sank 3.4% and equipment gained 5.6%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 89.964 following a recent climb from below 89.7. The Australian dollar was at $0.7749, following an earlier low of $0.7721.

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