Australia Market extends gains; Tech, healthcare stocks lead rally

The Australian share market finished higher for second consecutive session on Friday, 21 May 2021, on tracking positive lead from Wall Street overnight, with shares in healthcare, tech, consumer staples, and utilities stocks were notable gainers and helped to offset losses in energy and materials stocks.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 10.69 points, or 0.15%, to 7,030.26. The broader All Ordinaries added 12.70 points, or 0.18%, to 7,265.25.

7 of 11 sectors ended higher, with healthcare was the best performing sector, gaining 1.8%, followed by information technology (up 1.6%) and utilities (up 1.1%). Whereas energy was the worst performing sector, falling 2% followed by materials (down 1.06%).

The top performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 were S&P/ASX200 EML Payments (up 15.8%), The A2 Milk Co (up 6.3%), Webjet (up (5.4%), Corporate Travel Management (up 4.4%), and Zero (up 4.2%), while worst performing stocks were Kogan.com (down 14.3%), Nufrm (down 6.5%), Appen (down 5.1%), Perenti Global (down 5%), and Nickel Mines (down 5%).

CORPORATE NEWS: Online retailer Kogan.com (KGN) cut expectations of underlying operating performance and expects EBITDA in the range of A$58-A$63m in FY21, citing cost price inflation, warehousing costs and lower demand are proving challenging.

David Gonski will replace Trevor Gerber as chair of Sydney Airport (SYD) following its AGM. The company declined to provide guidance for the remainder of 2021 and did not declare an interim distribution. It's aiming to be net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Manufacturing PMI Expands To 59.9 In May- Australia manufacturing sector continued to expand in May, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics revealed on Friday with a survey record manufacturing PMI score of 59.9. That's up from 59.7 in April, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. New export orders rose as international demand for both Australian goods and services expanded at accelerated rates. The survey also showed that the services PMI eased to 58.2 from 58.8 in April and the composite fell to 58.1 from 58.9.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 89.819 off levels above 90 seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.774 following a recent rise from around $0.772.

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