At lunch on Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 index has fought back from a weak start and is up 0.3% to 6,673.5 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
Woolworths announces demerger plans.
The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price has charged higher after the conglomerate announced plans to combine its Endeavour Drinks and ALH Group businesses and then demerge them. Management believes the separation will allow Woolworths to benefit from a simplified organisational structure, a greater focus on its core food and everyday needs markets, and opportunities to continue to build out its retail ecosystem.
Bank shares lower.
Australia's big four banks have tumbled lower on Wednesday in response to the Reserve Bank cutting the cash rate to the record low of 1% on Tuesday. The worst performer in the group has been the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price with a decline of over 1%. ANZ was the only bank to pass the rate cut on in full.
Gold miners on the charge.
One of the best-performing areas of the market on Wednesday has been the gold miner industry thanks to the gold price rebounding strongly overnight. The precious metal has continued to rise in Asian trade and is up 2% over the last 24 hours to US$1,436.40 an ounce. This has led to the shares of Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) and St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) storming ~4% higher.
Best and worst performers.
The best performer on the ASX 200 index on Wednesday has been the St Barbara share price with a gain of just over 4% thanks to the aforementioned rise in the gold price. The worst performer on the index has been the Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) share price once again. Its shares are down a further 15% at lunch after brokers took an axe to their price targets following yet another guidance downgrade.
