KEY POINTS:
In the retail sector, supermarket operator Woolworths was up $1.59 to $29.03, and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, was $1.76 higher at $37.10.
Upmarket clothing and accessories firm OrotonGroup (OrotonGroup) added eight cents to $3.12 as a restructure helped lift its interim net profit by 70.2 per cent.
Telco Telstra picked up seven cents at $4.27 and its instament receipts put on seven cents to $2.68. Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications was seven cents heavier at $3.10.
In the media sector, News Corp eased 18 cents to $20.07 and its non-voting scrip fell 15 cents to $19.58.
Consolidated Media rose four cents to $3.60 and Fairfax was steady at $3.55.
Among other stocks, transport infrastructure firm Asciano added 20 cents to $3.73 as broker UBS said Asciano was likely to dump its holding in Brambles Ltd within the next month to shore up its capital position even though it would make a $100 million loss on the investment.
Winemaker Australian Vintage, formerly known as McGuigan Simeon Wines, was steady at $1.32 as it said it would sell its Loxton winery and Austflavor business to Indage Holdings Ltd of India for $60 million.
The top-traded stock by volume was healthcare firm IM Medical, with 89.27 million shares worth $1.95 million changing hands.
IM was up 0.6 cents to 2.3 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 1.69 billion shares worth $7.78 billion, with 734 stocks up, 451 down and 337 unchanged.
- AAP
