Sydney, Sept 5, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares reversed early morning gains to close lower today, weighed down by losses in banking shares. Dealers said the mood turned cautious ahead of a raft of U.S. data due this week, including the influential non-farm payrolls on Friday, for further clues on the outlook of the U.S. economy.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 31 points to 6,263 but on the futures market the SPI 200 is down 16 points.

In economic news, the Employment Department said a leading indicator of Australian employment fell for the third consecutive month in September although it said employment was still expected to grow.

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Turning to company news now, Healthscope has contacted advisers to Primary Health Care seeking a compromise deal in the bidding for Symbion Health, a source close to Primary has said this afternoon. Primary has said it might team up with private equity to bid for Symbion, which has already agreed to a $2.9 billion offer from private hospital operator Healthscope, amid strong demand for Australian healthcare assets as the country's population ages. Healthscope shares are 2.93% lower at $5.64 while Primary Health Care shares are 0.51% higher at $11.72.

Coles Group this afternoon has officially backed an enhanced the $18.2 billion takeover offer from conglomerate Wesfarmers this afternoon, sending Coles shares upwards. An independent expert, Grant Samuels said the bid was in the best interests of shareholders after Wesfarmers tweaked the terms by offering a new price protection mechanism on half the value of the share component of its bid following recent share market turmoil. Coles said shareholders would vote on Australia's largest takeover deal in November. Coles shares have come out of the trading halt and are up 3.58% at $14.75.

In other news today, Village Roadshow has made a cash offer of $6.01 per share for all of the shares it does not own in Sydney Attractions Group Limited.

BHP Billiton has awarded a five-year $300 million contract to Indigenous firm Ngarda Civil and Mining with the aim that indigenous people will eventually make up 70 of the 90 workers at its Yarrie iron ore mine, 200km north-east of Port Headland in WA.

Fortesque Metals is in the midst of take over speculation as Russia's largest steel maker is reportedly trying to up its stake in Fortescue Metals to 15 per cent as it seeks to secure long-term raw materials.

NRW Holdings made a strong trading debut on the ASX today, opening at a 15.5 per cent premium to its issue price of $2.00 and closing at $2.41.

Now to today's best and worst performers, the best performing index was the Staples index gaining 22 points to 8268, while the worst performing index was the Telecommunications Index shedding 24 points to 1,534.

Coates Hire was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 climbing 4.86% to $5.82. In breaking news, National Hire Group said it had made a joint proposal with private equity firm Carlyle Group to buy Coates Hire Ltd at $6.40 per share; Murchison Metals and Incitec Pivot also climbed higher.

AWB was the worst performing stock today sliding 5.11% to $2.60; Perilya and Bradken also lost ground.

To commodities now, gold is currently trading at $680.40 US an ounce and light crude is 6 cents firmer at $75.14 US a barrel.


Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au
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