At lunch on Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record another solid gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.95% to 6,002.1 points.
Here's what is happening on the market today:
Big four bank shares push higher.
The big four banks have continued their rebound and are all trading higher on Tuesday. The best performer in the group is the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price with a 0.75% gain. Investors appear to have shaken off a poor business survey out of National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) today. NAB's monthly survey revealed a weakening in Australia business conditions in August.
Scentre's rental collections improve.
The Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) share price is storming higher on Tuesday after announcing a further improvement in its rental collections. The Westfield shopping centre operator was able to collect a total of $183 million of gross rent in August. This represents 86% of its monthly gross rental billings. This means that its rental collections are now within sight of its pre-pandemic levels. In both January and February Scentre collected 94% or $200 million of gross rental billings.
CSL shares on the rise.
The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price is pushing higher today. This appears to be a delayed response to the biotherapeutics company's COVID-19 vaccine announcement on Monday. CSL has signed an agreement with the Australian Government to supply 51 million doses of University of Queensland's potential UQ-CSL V451 COVID-19 vaccine. It also signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the expected manufacture of approximately 30 million doses of the Oxford University vaccine candidate AZD1222 for supply to Australia.
Best and worst ASX 200 shares.
The best performer on the ASX 200 on Tuesday has been the Nufarm Limited (ASX: NUF) share price with a gain of almost 7%. This morning Morgans upgraded Nufarm's shares to an add rating with an improved price target of $4.85. The worst performer has been the Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) share price with a 3% decline. A number of gold miners have come under pressure today after the gold price softened.
