The sharemarket has shrugged off a poor overnight performance on Wall Street to trade higher at midday, buoyed by real estate stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 is up just 17.4 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 7163.4. The All Ordinaries was up 0.21 per cent.
The real estate sector was the best performing, with Goodman Group up 6.8 per cent. The communications sector was weighing on the benchmark, down 2 per cent, with Telstra and TPG Telecom both falling more than 2.5 per cent.
Utilities were up 1.2 per cent, with Origin Energy and Meridian Energy up 2.1 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.
Imugene was the worst-performing stock, down 13.8 per cent after completing a $35 million share placement and launching a $30 million share purchase plan.
Shares in Magellan Financial Group were the best performing, up 18 per cent. The international equities’ manager declared a special dividend of 30¢.
The real estate sector was up 2.3 per cent, with an 8.6 per cent rise in sector heavyweight Goodman Group doing much of the heavy lifting. Goodman Group, which released its full-year financial results on Thursday, was raised to a “buy” rating by CLSA analysts overnight.
Property fund manager Centuria Capital has fallen 4.4 per cent after its guidance came in below market expectations.
