At midday, Australia's share market has returned to a flat position after experiencing an early rise.
Investors seem cautious as they await the RBA interest rate decision scheduled for Tuesday.
At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.13 per cent higher at 7,413.40.
Earlier, the index reached a peak of 7434.3 before retracting to 7409, influenced by the fluctuating US share index futures, which went from a slight increase to a slight decrease.
Despite slightly better than expected China manufacturing data, it has not had any significant impact on the market.
Most sectors are still showing gains, except for consumer staples and financials, which are in the red along with utilities, primarily due to a slight downturn in major banks.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector is Energy, up 0.71 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Consumer Staples, down 1.05 per cent.
The best-performing large cap is Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC), trading 4.12 per cent higher at $6.83. It is followed by shares in Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) and carsales.com (ASX:CAR).
The worst-performing large cap is IGO (ASX:IGO), trading 3.87 per cent lower at $13.91. It is followed by shares in Woolworths Group (ASX:WOW) and Allkem (ASX:AKE).
Company news
AD1 Holdings (ASX:AD1) announced that they have renewed their contract with the Victorian Government for one of their software businesses, ApplyDirect, for an additional three years. In response, AD1 CEO, Brendan Kavenagh, commented, “We continue to invest time and resources in improving our platform offerings, tailoring solutions to better support our customers into the future.” Shares are trading 14.29 per cent higher at 0.8 cents.
New World Resources (ASX:NWC) announced that exceptional drill have been identified at the Company’s Javelin VMS Project in northern Arizona, USA. In response, New World’s Managing Director, Mike Haynes, commented: “We have defined a very strong, distinct, shallow IP anomaly that lies in the exact position in the geological sequence where we would expect to find VMS mineralisation.” Shares are trading 10 per cent higher at 3.3 cents.
Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT) has executed an agreement with AngloGold Ashanti Australia, which provides AGAA an exclusive three month period to conduct due diligence and to negotiate a potential transaction with Matsa in respect of Matsa’s Lake Carey Gold Project. Shares are trading 11.76 per cent higher at 3.8 cents.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1995.00 an ounce.
Iron ore is 3.3 per cent lower at US$109.40 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.8 per cent fall.
One Australian dollar is buying 66.66 US cents.
