At lunch on Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of the U.S. market and is up 0.2% to 5,897.4 points.
Here's what has been happening on the ASX 200 on so far today:
Banks edge lower again.
Investors appear nervous ahead of the Royal Commission final report release on Monday. The shares of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), and the rest of the big four have dropped around 0.5% at lunch.
Beach upgrades guidance.
The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price is 7% higher at lunch following the release of a solid second quarter update. A strong production performance during the quarter means that Beach has increased its full year production guidance from between 25 and 27 MMboe to the range of 28 to 29 MMboe.
Tech shares rise.
A strong quarterly result from Facebook appears to have been the catalyst for the information technology sector's outperformance today. Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) shares are up almost 4% at the time of writing.
Telstra shares slide.
The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is down 2% after its CEO Andy Penn warned that the NBN could cost it up to half of its profits. In addition to this, Optus announced plans to launch 5G fixed wireless broadband plans by the middle of the year. These plans will offer speeds and pricing which is comparable to the NBN.
Best and worst performers.
The best performer on the ASX 200 at lunch is the Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price which is up 7.5% despite there being no news out of the business and accounting software provider. Going the other way is the Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) share price which has fallen a further 7%. Investors have been hitting the sell button in a hurry following the release of the graphite miner's second quarter update yesterday.
