Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished higher on Thursday.
Here's a short recap of the Australian market:
- S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) up 0.33% to 5,881.00
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) up 0.34% to 5,976.40
- AUD/USD at US 78 cents
- Gold at US$1,350.70 an ounce
- Brent Oil at US$74 a barrel
It's been a big day of company updates today.
The best performer in the ASX200 came from Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA), the market really liked its Mt Alexander nickel-copper sulphide update and sent the share price 7.8% higher.
Another top performer was Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC), the Alcoa quarterly earnings release saw the share price soar up 7.09%.
BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) was another resource share to release its quarterly result, the big Australian's share price went up 2.83% on the news of its large copper production ramp up.
Annuity leader Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) revealed asset under management growth of 3% in its quarterly result, but annuity sales growth has slowed, leading to the share price dropping by 3.14%.
Queensland Bauxite Ltd (ASX: QBL) has been successful in getting hemp products to be sold at Coles, leading to the share price rising by 25.5%.
The Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) share price finished the day 5.34% higher with rumours that Seven West Media Ltd (ASX: SWM) could be considering a takeover offer, Seven went up 3.03%.
Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) declined by 3.1% today on more legal issues surrounding its leases.
Resource company South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) pleased investors with its quarterly update, its share price went up 4.58%.
Finally, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) delivered its half-year report today showing a decline in underlying profit, the share price dropped by 2.33%.
Here are some of today's top stories:
