- The ASX200 is trading 0.65% lower after lunchtime at 7330.4 points.
- Corporate Travel Management announced Helloworld Travel corporate business acquisition.
- BNK Banking Corporation soars 16% on Finsure sale to MA Financial.
The Australian market?s losses have extended into Wednesday as the key index trades 0.65% lower at 7330.40 after lunchtime, weighed down by a sharp sell off in tech stocks.
The tech sector tumble follows a turbulent session for the Nasdaq on Wall St overnight, with Megaport?s 5.33% dive leading the sector lower, followed by Codan down 4.5% and EML Payments trading 3.57% lower.
Bitcoin is trading 2.13% higher over the last 24-hours at US$47,910.59 at 1:15pm AEDT.
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) entered a trading halt today to announce it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Helloworld Travel Ltd?s Corporate and Entertainment travel business in Australia and New Zealand for an enterprise value of $175m. The acquisition is highly complementary to CTM?s existing Australian and New Zealand corporate travel management operations, and adds industry verticals which are expected to perform strongly amid the COVID-19 recovery, according to CTM.
Making headlines, BNK Banking Corporation shares are rocketing almost 17% today so far after the financial services provider announced it has entered into a binding agreement to sell 100% of its mortgage broker network Finsure to MA Financial for $145m. Finsure is a leading Australian mortgage aggregator with a lending portfolio of $60.8bn, focused on the home lending market.
And just a short time after Pony.ai was granted a licence to test its fully-autonomous, driverless vehicles in California, the Department of Motor Vehicles has moved to suspend the company?s testing permit after one of the vehicles crashed into a centre divider containing a traffic sign.