Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) and ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) indices finished lower on Thursday.
Here's a short recap of the Australian market:
- S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lower 0.59% to 6,375.90
- ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) lower 0.56% to 6,430.00
- AUD/USD at US 70 cents
- Gold at US$1,272.15 an ounce
- Brent Oil at US$71.82 a barrel
The best-performing ASX 200 share today was the Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price which rose 9.1% with the market being very excited about the lithium sector.
The reason for the excitement was the large Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) bid for Kidman Resources Ltd (ASX: KDR), which sent the Kidman share price up 45%. The Wesfarmers share price dropped 0.4%.
At the red end of the ASX was the Pendal Group Ltd (ASX: PDL) share price which declined 13% because of a large drop in profit in its half year result.
The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price dropped 1.2% as investors learned it is thinking about unlocking some value with the sale of a stake of some properties.
The share price of IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) fell 5.2% in response to its March quarter update.
After learning of the dividend cut in the interim report, investors sent the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) down 0.3%.
Finally, the share price of Hansen Technologies Limited (ASX: HSN) rose 17.2% after announcing an exciting acquisition.
Here are some of today's top stories:
