S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) (ASX:XJO) is up 3.33% to 5,245.8 at 1.09pm AEST trending generally positive over the day.
Travel booking company Webject Limited (ASX:WEB), which remains suspended has revealed this afternoon that it has raised $275 million at $1.70 per share.
Shares in Webjet were trading around $14 before the COVID-19 sell-off commenced and last traded at $3.76 before shares were halted and then suspended in order to raise capital.
#ASX 200 moves at 12,31pm AEDT. Energy & property stocks among the big improvers with double digit gains as all sectors climb at lunch #ausbiz pic.twitter.com/sacGMgNQDA
— CommSec (@CommSec) April 1, 2020
Pre-market: S&P/ASX 200 futures point to positive day ahead but market remains volatile
ASX 200 futures are higher this morning but the last couple of weeks have shown much can change from now until the close.
Yesterday the market opened strongly and went higher over the morning but in the afternoon gave up 5% to close down 2.02% to 5,076.80.
This resulted in a 24.1% fall for the quarter, the worst since 1987 and a 21.2% fall for the month of March, also the worst month since 1987.
US markets were weaker overnight but the daily ranges weren't as volatile which is a welcome sign.
The S&P 500 Index (INDEX:. INX) closed at 2,584.59, −42.06 or down 1.60% and the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) closed at 7,700.10, −74.05 or down 0.95%.
The daily count of COVID19 cases and deaths in the US continues to rise with at least 770 deaths in the US on 31 March 2020.
What a wild month of trading on Wall Street. Stocks extended losses on Tuesday with the Dow dropping more than 400 points to end its worst-ever first quarter. The S&P 500 was down by 1.6% and the Nasdaq fell 1%. https://t.co/VFraGp9860 pic.twitter.com/JkSAyW4zSv
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 31, 2020
Yesterday, Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) sold 5.2% of its stake in Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL) for $15.39 per share raising $1.06 billion.
Wesfarmers still retains a 4.9% interest in Coles but is looking to be the winner from the sale early on with shares yesterday closing at $15.16, around 1.5% below the sale price.
AUD over 61 cents, oil remains around $20
Gold was down 3.2% overnight to US$1,590 per ounce and Crude Oil WTI was flat at US$20.10 per barrel.
The AUD is buying 61.4 US cents which is largely unchanged overnight.