Sydney, Aug 29, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Australian shares could drop off dramatically after steep falls in New York where markets tumbled on renewed economic worries and credit market fears. Also, a fall in metal prices could hit mining firms here at home.
On Tuesday the S&P/ASX200 lost 9 points ending at 6,176. On the futures market the SPI200 is down 126.
Turning to currencies, At 8:35 AM the Aussie dollar is buying 81.37 US cents, on the crosses the dollar is buying 92.97 yen, 59.83 Euro cents, and 40.69 British pence.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/UNILZ3RYMaking news headlines this morning, Consolidated Minerals finished lower on Tuesday, shares lost 0.27% to $3.64. Pallinghurst Resources has increased its takeover offer for Consolidated by 9 per cent, bringing the offer to $822 million. Pallinghurst wants to get its hands on one of the world's biggest manganese deposits, but so does Territory Resources and an unidentified third party. Yesterday Pallinghurst announced it would place an order at $3.60 a share, 30 cents higher than its current off market cash offer, before the market opens today. The firm said the order would remain open until 4:10 this afternoon. Consolidated Minerals posted a loss in 2006 after solid earnings results the previous year.
Ten Network shares were down 1.13% to $2.62. Ten Network has issued 523 million new shares to companies within the CanWest Global Communications, giving the Canadian company a controlling 56 per cent stake in the Aussie broadcaster. Ten's executive chair said the exchange will make it easier for investors to understand the company and that the move was a "great" vote of confidence by CanWest in Ten's future growth. The change in strategy came after CanWest failed to find a buyer for Ten and should result in more capital management initiatves to return cash to shareholders. Ten Network earnings reported positive earnings over the past four years after reporting a loss in 2002.
The S&P/ASX top 200 companies trading ex-dividend today are Aristocrat Leisure with a 14 cent fully franked dividend to be paid on the 18th of September, Downer EDI with a 8 cent zero per cent franked dividend to be paid on the 18th of October, Dyno Nobel with a 2.8 cent forty per cent franking to be paid on the 23rd of October, Fairfax Media with a 10 cent fully franked dividend to be paid on the 27th of September and Santos with a 20 cent 100 per cent franked dividend to be paid on the 2 of October.
To international markets, US markets sank after Merrill Lynch warned that ailing credit markets will hurt bank profits, and cut its ratings on some of the major investment banks. The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 280, the S&P500 lost 34 points, and the Nasdaq dropped 61.
European markets were weaker; London's FTSE sank 118 after being closed for a public holiday on Monday; Paris fell 116, and Frankfurt lost 56.
Meanwhile Asian stocks were mixed; Hong Kong's Hang Sang declined 214 points; Tokyo's Nikkei slipped 14, but China's SSE Composite improved 45.
Back to the US, gold futures fell in light trade on the weaker stock markets and lackluster base metals. Gold fell $2.70 to $673.50 US an ounce for the spot contract on Comex, Silver was steady at $11.92, copper lost 4 cents and is trading at $3.31.
And finally, oil dipped 24 cents to $71.73 for October light crude in New York.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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