Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished higher on Friday.
Here's a short recap of the Australian market:
- S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 0.04% to 6,070.10
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) up 0.01% to 6,176.80
- AUD/USD at US 78.9 cents
- Gold at US$1,328.45 an ounce
- Brent Oil at US$69.2 a barrel
The ASX indices barely made it into positive territory today, but green is better than red.
Today was a good day for many of the ASX200's biggest commodity companies.
Lithium miners Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) and Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) both rocketed up today, their share prices rose by 6.53% and 3.69% respectively.
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) was another strong commodity performer, with the materials company's share price gaining 4.03% today.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) was the best performer in the ASX200, with the share price rising 6.9% thanks to a rising oil price.
The worst performing big four bank today was Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) because of news that it wouldn't be going ahead with the sale of UDC Finance to HNA Group. The share price fell by 0.73% today.
Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL) had the unlucky title having the biggest fall in the ASX200 today. The company announced today that it lost the Roy Hill Iron Ore contract, consequently the share price fell by 4.15%.
The Automotive Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: AHG) share price was the other major loser today, down by 3.03%.
Finally, the share price of funeral newcomer Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP) rose by 0.58% on news that it was bidding for all the shares of Norwood Park.
Here are some of today's top stories:
