Sydney, Sept 3, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Australian shares were flat by late Monday morning, with gains in investment banks offset by losses in QBE Insurance Group Ltd as it turned ex-dividend.
At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index is down four points to 6,244 and on the futures market the SPI 200's down 10.
In economic news, ANZ Job advertisements in Australia rose point one percent in August.
The full report is available at the following video and audio links.
Video Link
http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/K0MW8D23Audio Link
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/4W05JZI2And the Australian Bureau of Statists reported the Australian July building approvals rose 0.4 per cent.
In company news this hour, Virgin Blue could double its fleet of Embraer jets if the first 20 aircraft prove as successful as management expects. The airline has firm orders for 20 E-170 and E-190 regional jets but has revealed it still has options on three planes and purchase rights on 17 more. Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey does not believe the airline will have trouble securing production slots if it decides to expand its fleet. Shares in Virgin Blue are up 1.43% to $2.13.
Australian oil and gas producer Anzon says it's received a number of approaches which could result in a takeover, sending its shares up as much as 20 per cent. Shares in Anzon, first listed in December 2004, rose as much as 20 per cent to $1.45 before easing to $1.40. The company has not given details of where the approaches came from. Anzon's shares are down 2.3% to $1.485.
Turning now to market indices, the index posting the biggest gain by percentage points is the materials up 71 points at 13,611. Shares in Mincor Resources are up 6.67% to $3.52. Shares in Fortescue Metals and Zinifex are also higher.
The Energy index is the worst performing index by percentage points and is down 116 points to 14,155. Straits Resources shares are one of the biggest decliners and are down 2.71% to $4.31. Australian worldwide Exploration and Caltex also lost ground.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei is down 77 points and in New Zealand the NZ-SX-50 is up 5.
Gold is currently trading at 673 U.S dollars an ounce and one Australian dollar is buying 82.19 U.S cents.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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