Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon November 27, 2014

Men watch the stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in central Sydney April 21, 2009. Australian stocks fell 2.6 percent on Tuesday, led down by banks and miners, on fresh concerns about the earnings outlook for domestic companies and a potential surge in sour loans for banks. Reuters/Stringer

 Australian shares finished slightly higher on Thursday, adding to yesterday's 1.1 per cent surge. The ASX 200 Index closed a touch above the 5400pt level. This makes it three days of gains this week and takes the improvements over the past four days to 1.8 per cent.

 Healthcare stocks surged by 1.9 per cent and were the standouts following news the Australian government might drop plans for the $7 per visit co-payment. Businesses with interests in medical or pathology centres like Primary Healthcare (PRY) and Sonic Healthcare (SHL) did well. PRY surged by 3.1 per cent while SHL rose by 2.4 per cent.

 Woolworths (WOW) rose by 2.1 per cent after saying it's on track to lift its annual profit by as much as 7 per cent. Shares in Australia's largest supermarket chain have still slumped by 12 per cent this month following sluggish sales in recent months.

 Volume was average with 1.7bn shares traded worth $4.6bn. 413 stocks finished higher, 492 in the red and 357 were unchanged. Index equity derivatives expired today but didn't boost volume significantly.

 While new business spending on buildings or equipment only edged higher by 0.2 per cent in the September quarter, investment outside mining and manufacturing sectors surged by 5.5 per cent. CommSec chief economist Craig James said that "Mining investment fell in the latest quarter but that was offset by strongest lift in services sector spending in four years. So the "baton pass" from mining to non-resource sectors is underway."

 Tonight is likely to be a quiet night for markets globally as the US observes Thanksgiving Day. US equities will not be trading tonight.

 OPEC oil ministers will be meeting tonight to decide production quotas. There were some signs overnight that OPEC might not cut oil production as was previously though. The price of oil slipped for the third day to the lowest level in more than four years. The 12 member OPEC could prefer maintaining market share by not cutting production at the expense of lower prices. OPEC accounts for around 40 per cent of global output.

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