- ASX200 closed 1.06% lower on Tuesday at 7097.
- NAB received Federal Court of Australia approval for 86 400 acquisition.
- Starpharma shared a new partnership for Viraleze with Harlequins FC.
The Australian market closed in negative territory today almost wiping out yesterday?s 1.3% gain. The market closed Tuesday?s session down 1.06% at 7097 following Wall Street?s lead. Tech and Energy stocks dragged the key index down.
The tech sector led the losses for the day as Afterpay plummeted more than 8.5%, Nearmap shed over 7.5% and Appen, Wisetech and Xero each closed the day down more than 3%.
Coca Cola Amatil had its final day of trading on the ASX today after being taken over by Coca Cola European Partners.
Bitcoin continues to dive this afternoon, trading 6.54% lower at US$55,236.88 at 4:30pm AEST.
NAB has been cleared by the Federal Court of Australia to proceed with the acquisition of remaining share capital in neobank 86 400 Holdings to accelerate the growth of its digital bank, UBank. In January NAB announced its intention to acquire 86 400 but had to meet specific conditions to proceed. The conditions included approvals from the Treasurer, APRA and the ACCC, in addition to approvals from 86 400 shareholders and the Federal Court.
Making headlines, biopharmaceutical company Starpharma announced a new deal to supply its Viraleze nasal spray to the Harlequins Football Club in the UK to ?protect players and coaching staff?. Studies have proven Viraleze to be 99.9% effective against the virus that causes COVID-19 and works against other viral diseases like the common cold, flu and other respiratory illnesses.
The Pentagon is considering use of AI-controlled drones and robots in combat in the future after studying such a scenario in a drill last year near Seattle whereby robots and drones were able to assess situations and engage enemies without human control.