- ASX drops in afternoon trade despite hitting record high.
- Cochlear names former eBay Australia CEO new board chairman.
- Fortescue CEO confident strong iron ore prices will remain.
The ASX has slipped today, despite opening higher and hitting 7200 for the first time ever. Energy is leading declines, down 1.55% while health care is higher by 0.92%.
Looking at the top 5 biggest gainers in afternoon trade, Bravura Solutions is the best performing stock gaining 4.57%. Resolute Mining rose 4.27% while Mayne Pharma is up 4.05%. Inghams and Bega are trading higher by 3.52% and 3.46% respectively.
Link Administration Holdings was the worst performing stock on the ASX/200, down 6.79%. McMiillan Shakespeare fell 5.39% with Austral also losing ground at 5.94%. NRW Holdings and Jumbo both ended lower, down 5.0% and 4.51% respectively.
Making headlines is Cochlear, which has named former eBay Australia head Alison Deans as its new chairman. She will replace Rick Holliday-Smith, who will retire from the board on August 20. Ms Deans has been a non-executive director of Cochlear since January 2015 and was the first CEO of eBay Australia.
In further news, Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines has told the Australian Shareholders' Association conference today the market conditions which have elevated iron ore prices should remain for some time. Despite China's recent efforts to pull back iron ore prices Ms Gaines said there was still growing demand from steelmakers in China and world-wide.
The Aussie dollar is trading higher against the Greenback buying 77.28 US cents, 85 Japanese Yen and ?63.39 cents.
Bitcoin is trending higher, trading at US$35,000 at 4:59 PM AEST.
In commodities, iron ore is 0.31% lower at US$205.73 per metric ton while gold has fallen 2.6% to now be worth US$1,892.
West Texas Crude oil is down 0.53% at US$66.32 per barrel while Brent oil is higher by 0% at US$68.75/barrel.