Sydney, July 2, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Aussie shares barely moved on the first day of July trading as energy firms led by Woodside Petroleum rose on firmer oil prices, negating a dull session on Wall Street at the end of last week.
At Midday the ASX200 index has gained 10 points to 6,285 and on the futures market the SPI 200's up 34.
In economic news, TD Securities-Melbourne Institute Monthly Inflation Gauge rose a modest 0.2 per cent in June, unchanged from May and was up 2.6 percent on June last year. The result was restrained in part by the strength of the Aussie dollar.
In company news this hour, the Westfield Group this morning announced the establishment of a 530 million pound wholesale fund to own interests in four Westfield shopping centres in the United Kingdom with a gross value of over 2.1 billion pounds. The fund, to be named the Westfield UK Shopping Centre Fund and Westfield will continue to retain a 25% interest in the properties. Westfield will act as fund manager of the new fund and will continue to act as property, leasing and development manager for each of the centres. Westfield shares are 0.7% higher at $20.10.
Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group this morning announced the acquisition of Global Tower Partners by a Macquarie consortium led by Macquarie Communications Infrastructure and New York based Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. The consortium said it negotiated a purchase price of $US1.4 billion and bought the provider of outsourced antennae site facilities from buyout group Blackstone. Global Tower has 2,500 towers and more than 4,600 rooftop sites for wireless communications services. The deal is subject to U.S. regulatory approval. Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group shares are in a trading halt and last traded at $6.33.
Now to warrants with Macquarie Bank...Traders looking to trade the index as a whole have been active across Macquarie index warrants. Those anticipating upside looked to calls through XJOVMI Jun07 6100 Call.
Rio Tinto shares have bucked a positive session in London Friday night and are currently trading below Friday's close, prompting traders in the warrants' market to buy in anticipation of a bounce. Good interest has been seen in RIOIMA Sep07 $65.00 Instalment.
Turning now to market indices, the best performing index this morning by percentage points is the Health Index, gaining 79 points to 8,477. Shares in Ramsay Healthcare are the biggest percentage gainer on the index as they advanced 2.5% to $11.49. Healthscope and Resmed have also posted gains.
At the other end of the market, the Utilities Index is the worst performing index and has lost 13 points to 7,551. Babcock & Brown Power have fallen 2.02% to $3.39. Spark Infrastructure Group and Alinta have also retreated.
And now let's take a look at regional markets. In Tokyo, the Nikkei is 52 points weaker and in New Zealand the NZSX50 is 8 points behind.
Gold is currently trading at $651.20 U.S an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 85.17 U.S cents.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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