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 0.18% to 6,118.70
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) up 0.19% to 6,215.90
- AUD/USD at US 75 cents
- Gold at US$1,312.70 an ounce
- Brent Oil at US$77.89 a barrel
The best performance in the ASX200 came from Pendal Group Limited (ASX: PDL), which was formerly BT Investment Management. Its share price rose 6.4% today after reporting today.
Another company to report today was accounting software business Xero Limited (ASX: XRO), its share price went down 3.4% after the report wasn't as good as expected.
The oil price continues to rise due to political fears in the Middle East. Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) was up 4.8% today and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) went up 1.7%.
Investors seem particularly confident about Challenger Ltd's (ASX: CGF) future after the budget, the annuity provider's share price went up by 1.5%.
Things didn't improve for Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL) shareholders as the pet business dropped another 7% today.
The market has soured on shareholder service provider Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX: LNK) after the budget, it dropped by 8.3%.
Finally, Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC) fell by 4.6% after investors worried about what the Malaysian election will do to its local operations.
Here are some of today's top stories:
