Welcome to Friday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.
- The S&P/ ASX 200(Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has opened flat, following mixed results on Wall Street overnight.The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% and the broader S&P 500 fell 0.1% while the tech-heavy NASDAQ managed a gain of 0.4%.
Crude oil prices were down slightly overnight, with Brent oil sliding 0.6% to US$60.14 per barrel while iron ore was unchanged at US$63.44 per tonne due to Chines New Year holidays.
The Australian dollar is steady against the US dollar and is currently buying 77.9 US cents.
- Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) CEO David Thodey has stepped down from the top job, with chief financial officer Andy Penn to take over. Thodey has doubled the giant telco's market cap from $40 billion to $80 billion currently over his six-year tenure.Shareholders may well be concerned that Penn may take Telstra in a different, more risky direction to Thodey.
- Medibank Private Limited (ASX: MPL) has reported a 10.8% increase in pro-forma net profit in its first result since listing on the ASX last year. Already the company has shown it can improve its efficiency, with management expense ratio falling from 9.2% to 8% – still a fair way from industry best practice though.
- Tweet of the Day
Junior tech business Integrated Research $IRI posts interim net profit of $7.5 million on revenue of $33.5 million https://t.co/h1FUyvn712
The Motley Fool Aust (@TheMotleyFoolAu) February 19, 2015It's not always the large caps that can produce outstanding results. Here's one.
- Stock of the Day– brought to you by Darryl-Date Shappard – iProperty Group Ltd (ASX: IPP). The Asian property portal owner is expecting a big year, with earnings forecast to accelerate. You can get the details here.
