The Australian share market opened lower following weak leads from Wall Street and is now tracking 28 points lower at noon. The ASX has fallen back to a level last seen in October, wiping out five and a half months of gains. The falls come following a mass sell-off on Wall Street on Friday amid mounting fears of a trade war between the US and China
The energy sector is leading the way off the back of the rising oil price and the financials sector is trailing behind, which is seeing the local bourse drop in the first two hours of trade.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 28 points down to 5793 . On the futures market the SPI is eyeing a loss of 27 points.
Company news
Digital finance provider Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) has announced plans to partner with TigerAir, adding its zip interest-free payment services as a payment option for the budget carrier's flights. The new payment platform launches on the 16th of April. Shares in Zip are trading flat at $0.84 cents.
Sports analytics company Catapult Group (ASX:CAT) is hoping for a $25 million equity injection.
The company’s shares went into a trading halt this morning as its broker Goldman Sachs launched an equity raising.
They hope to undertake a fully underwritten institutional placement of shares to raise $25 million at $1.10 per share.
Catapult Group shares (ASX:CAT) last traded on Friday at $1.18 and will resume trading on Tuesday.
Best and worst performers
The best performing sector is energy adding 0.3 per cent to 10166 points while the worst performing sector is financials excluding REITS, shedding 0.7 per cent to 6836 points.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Retail Food Group (ASX:RFG), rising 4.4 per cent to $1.07, followed by shares in IPH (ASX:IPH) and Resolute mining (ASX:RSG).
The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY), dropping 4.4 per cent to $3.14, followed by shares in Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN).
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,347 an ounce.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.26 US cents.
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin has fallen 2 per cent to US$8456 Ethereum is flat US$522 and Storm is down by almost 5 per cent to US 5 cents.
