The Dow has snapped a four-day streak of record highs in a US equity retreat attributed in part to a shock Republican primary election and profit taking.
The takeover bid for Aquila Resources took an unexpected turn today when a mystery buyer, believed to be Mineral Resources, spent about $192 million buying a large stake in the Perth company, paying well above the bid price.
The Australian dollar hit a four-week high against the US dollar, helped by positive business confidence data and a recent run of good Chinese economic figures.
US stocks have rallied, with the Dow and S&P 500 extending record winning streaks amid a fresh burst of merger and acquisition activity on Wall Street.
May was a stagnant month for the Deloitte WA index with the market capitalisation of Western Australia listed companies increasing by only 0.3 per cent to close the month at $153.6 billion.
The Australian share market has closed higher in the wake of the European Central Bank's economic stimulus measures and ahead of jobs figures to be released in the United States overnight.
The quarterly rebalance of the Australian stockmarket Indices has pushed Perth companies Regis Resources, Ausdrill and Silver Lake Resources out of their S&P/ASX indices.
The Dow and the S&P 500 have bolted to new records after the European Central Bank launched aggressive measures to stimulate fragile eurozone growth and avert deflation.
US stocks have risen, pushing the S&P 500 to a record close, following mixed economic data a day ahead of the closely watched meeting of the European Central Bank.
The Australian share market has closed lower as investors shrugged off better-than-expected headline economic growth figures and decided to take profits ahead of a key European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.
Wall Street stocks have retreated from Monday's records as investors looked ahead to Thursday's European Central Bank meeting and Friday's monthly US jobs report.
The Australian share market has closed lower as weaker than expected retail figures and uninspiring commentary from the Reserve Bank of Australia weighed on investor sentiment.
