Markets Live: ASX rallies from morning sell-off

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3:40pm

Meet the managing director who plugged into cobalt and a Korean oil company to super charge his company's share price.

Until the dying days of the financial year, Benjamin Bell's Australian Mines was the best performing stock in the ASX All Ordinaries index, with a 12-month gain of more than 580 per cent.

But the Perth-based battery metals play slipped to second on Thursday - the second last trading day of the year - after slumping 10 per cent, or 1¢, to 9¢. The $241 million company had just emerged from a trading halt that stemmed from Mr Bell getting ahead of himself while talking to brokers at a conference in London. The top spot, with a return of 618 per cent, was tightly held manganese miner and explorer OM Holdings.

Brad Thompson has the full story here.

3:21pm

Investors will have plenty to smile about as the financial year draws to a close, with Aussie stocks set to return a blockbuster 15 per cent including dividends over the 12 months, writes Patrick Commins.

In fact, it's been a great couple of financial years for those with an exposure to the broad market – in FY17 the ASX 200 index proffered a total return of closer to 16 per cent.

The prognosis for the coming 12 months looks hopeful, too. Citi strategist Tony Brennan reckons the benchmark measure will get to 6500 by the end of this year and to 6650 by the middle of 2019. That implies a 7 per cent price gain for FY19.

Bloomberg consensus numbers have the ASX 200 yielding 4.3 per cent in dividends over that period, implying a third consecutive financial year of double-digit returns.

Read the full piece here.

3:01pm

Telstra, the biggest drag on the S&P/ASX 200 Index's performance in 2017-18, is a long way from lighting up the bourse and will either need to get a lot cheaper or provide a high level of confidence around earnings before fund managers are willing to enthusiastically back the telco.

Shares of Telstra have collapsed to a seven-year low following a cut to its dividend, successive earnings downgrades and a turnaround plan involving a split of its infrastructure into a new wholly-owned business.

While chief executive Andy Penn's strategy has the tacit support of analysts who follow Telstra, fund managers are concerned they would be overpaying for the stock at current levels given the risks around transformation, earnings and competition.

Telstra was trading at $2.62 on Friday, a loss of 27 per cent this year.

Vesna Poljak has the full story here.

2:36pm

Former Commonwealth Bank director and risk committee chairman Harrison Young was alerted to the actions of a rogue bank manager but still allowed him to resign and did not tell his customers.

Senior counsel assisting the banking royal commission, Rowena Orr, QC, continued to explore the case of the Toowoomba bank manager who cannot be named with BankWest executive Sinead Taylor.

When taken to a report that said the case was being escalated to Mr Young, Ms Taylor said she was not familiar with the document, leading to an excruciating exchange in Friday's hearing.

James Frost has the full story here.

2:15pm

The Australian sharemarket is trading very flat this afternoon following a rally just after midday.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 1 point, or 0.01 per cent, higher at 6216.3.

BHP Billiton has pushed higher through the afternoon to be again leading the market, followed by Westpac and Commonwealth Bank.

Afterpay Touch is still the index's best performer, up 8.1 per cent, while Perpetual is up 5.5 per cent.

CSL and Macquarie are still dragging the market with 1.2 per cent and 2 per cent losses respectively.

Credit Corp is down 4.2 per cent while CSR is down 3 per cent.

1:47pm

Spanish-backed construction and engineering giant CIMIC Group is nearing a deal to take full control of operations and maintenance contractor Ventia.

As revealed by Street Talk on Thursday, CIMIC is in late-stage talks to buy out joint venture partner Apollo Global Management, which was marketing its half-share of the business for sale late last year.

The deal is expected to be worth more than $1 billion.

Lending sources said CIMIC had started preparing funding for the acquisition and was sounding out United States Term Loan B investors for their support.

The deal would end CIMIC and Apollo's 50:50 joint venture, which was named Ventia when Apollo completed the transaction in March 2015.

Street Talk has the full story here.

1:18pm

There is nothing like Chinese whispers to drive up a target company's share price.

And so it is at in-play hospital owner Healthscope, where it was only a matter of time before the company and its defence team faced reports about a mystery Chinese bidder.

It's the sort of Chinese whisper no one can definitively dismiss - and one dealmakers have taken more seriously ever since Beijing Capital paid a stonking price for Transpacific Industries' NZ waste business in 2014.

But it's a stretch to think there is anything close to a workable Chinese bid coming for Healthscope.

Street Talk has the full story here.

12:52pm

Atlas Iron's board has unanimously backed Gina Rinehart's $390 million takeover bid for the junior miner.

Ms Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting had emerged last week as the likely winner of the battle for Atlas, trumping a previously recommended bid by mid-tier player Mineral Resources.

Atlas Iron recommends shareholders accept the Hancock offer, subject to an independent report stating whether the offer is fair and reasonable, and says it will lodge its formal response to the bid in coming weeks.

Read the full story here.

12:22pm

The corporate regulator has fired a broadside at the $697 billion DIY super industry, with a new report suggesting nine out of 10 self-managed super funds are underpinned by poor financial advice.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission reviewed 250 files randomly selected based on Tax Office data and found in 91 per cent of cases the financial adviser did not comply with the Corporations Act's "best interests" duty and related obligations.

In one out of 10 files reviewed, the client was likely to be significantly worse off in retirement due to the advice. In almost one in five cases, clients were at an increased risk of losing money due to lack of diversification.

Caitlin Fitzsimmons has the full story here.

12:08pm

The Australian share market has fallen through the morning to be sitting below yesterday's close.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 6.2 points, or 0.1 per cent lower at 6209.2.

CSL and Macquarie are weighing the index with 1.4 per cent and 1.6 per cent losses respectively.

Seven West Media is down 2.6 per cent, followed by Vocus Group down 2.6 per cent.

Westpac and Commonwealth are the two market leaders with only very small gains.

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have fallen away from their earlier highs.

Afterpay Touch is still the index's best performer, advancing 8 per cent, followed by Perpetual, up 4.8 per cent