Futures contracts for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) index are pointing to a slightly negative open on Thursday morning with Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) and Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX: RWC) in the news.
Here’s the key headline data:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 75.66 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 0.2%
Oil (WTI): $US71.87 per barrel
Gold: $US1,293 per ounce
Overnight, London-listed shares of BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) finished 3.2% and 2% lower, respectively, according to Yahoo! Finance. Yesterday, Rio Tinto announced it is in discussions to sell its giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Read more here.
Australian Investing News
Making news in Australia, gambling business Aristocrat Leisure released its half-year report to the ASX this morning, revealing a 28% rise in revenue and a profit of $256 million, up 3%. An interim dividend of 19 cents per share was declared.
“This result was driven by strong growth in the Group’s Americas and Digital businesses, including the recent acquisitions of Plarium and Big Fish, together with a further lift in performance in the ANZ region,” Aristocrat’s announcement read.
Read more here: Aristocrat’s Jackpot Profit
Shares in plumbing and water solutions business Reliance Worldwide Corporation entered a trading halt this morning. In its request to the ASX, RWC said it is planning to make a $1.2 billion acquisition of the UK’s John Guest and will fund the deal with a capital raising.
Here’s the news: RWC To Buy John Guest For $1.2b
Lithium miner Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) provided an update on its Cauchari joint venture project, saying it was pleased to increase the estimated size of the resource following phase II drilling. Orocobre said the inferred resource increased six-fold to 3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Finally, Auckland International Airport Ltd (ASX: AIA) released its monthly traffic update for April showing a 2.8% increase in total passenger growth.
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