The All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) traded 0.4% higher in early afternoon trade today, with shares of Cimic (ASX:CIM), Altium Limited (ASX:ALU) and Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX:LOV) moving the Australian share market.
In overseas markets, Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.1% and Chinese markets (Hang Seng) were up 0.7%. Overnight, the USA’s Dow Jones rose 1.44%.
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Australian Investor News Today
Cimic rises on report
Cimic, formerly Leighton Holdings, is a major international construction and mining contractor with brands like UGL, CPB Contractors, Thiess, Broad and Sedgman under its banner.
As reported by Rask Media, Cimic Group released its annual report revealing to investors the extent of the impact of its recent BICC divestment to its financial accounts. Cimic shares were trading over 5% higher as a result, probably due to management stating that there is more than $150 billion of construction work up for grabs in its key markets in 2020, and much more in 2021 and beyond.
Altium follows US tech space higher
Altium is an Australian multinational software business that was founded in 1985. Altium software focuses on electronics design systems for 3D PCB design and embedded system development. Its services include Altium Designer, Altium Vault, CircuitStudio, CircuitMaker, TASKING and Octopart.
Today, Altium was among local technology companies leading the market higher today, rising 2%. Although no new material news was released by the company, it could just be that overnight gains on US markets helped to buoy local technology companies, which have been quite volatile in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
3. Lovisa gains on Collete administration
Lovisa is a fast-fashion jewellery retailer that was founded in 2010 by managing director Shane Fallscheer in partnership with private investment group BB Retail Capital (BBRC). Since then, the company has quickly grown to over 350 stores across Australia, South Africa, the UK and throughout the world.
Lovisa shares rose 8% today to be the largest percentage gainer in the All Ords index. Although no material news was released by the company, Lovisa’s investors appear to be excited by the news that one of its key competitors, Colette, has filed for administration.
Although it has 140 stores in Australia and New Zealand, the Colette business appears to have been hurt by the weak retail environment. In recent months, other retail businesses such as Harris Scarfe, Bardot and Jeanswest have decided to close shop. The administrator of Collete, Deloitte, is planning to continue trading until it can either sell or recapitalise the Colette business.
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