Sydney, Sept 6, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Aussie shares have fallen in morning trade, with U.S.-focused stocks including Brambles and CSL declining on fresh signs overnight that a U.S. housing slump was hurting the broader economy. Financial and banking stocks are also dragging on the market.
At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index has fallen 55 points to 6,208 and on the futures market the SPI 200's down 36.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Australia's unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 4.3 per cent in August, steady from July. Total employment rose 31,900 while full-time employment increased by 29,100.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/A65O49PJIn company news this hour, Consolidated Minerals's potential Ukrainian-backed suitor, Palmary Enterprises, has urged Consolidated's shareholders to ignore a rival offer from Pallinghurst Resources. On Monday, the board of Consolidated Minerals unanimously backed a Palmary offer of $3.95 a share. The bid trumped Pallinghurst's offer of $3.60 a share. Palmary is the largest shareholder in Consolidated Minerals, with a current stake of approximately 14.36 per cent. Consolidated shares are 0.49% lower at $4.06.
Publishing and Broadcasting Limited announced this morning that Melco PBL Entertainment Macau and certain subsidiaries have signed a US$1.75 billion Senior Facilities Agreement with a syndicate of banks. The Macua casino joint venture company said in a statement that the recent adverse change in credit market conditions in the United States resulted in a restructuring of the $US2.75 billion commitment secured by the gaming company in June into the facilities as announced today. The company also said the facilities provide Melco PBL Gaming with financing sufficient to meet the projected cost of constructing and developing the first phase of City of Dreams. PBL shares are down 1.15% at $18.12.
Now to Warrants with Macquarie Bank. The banking sector is one of today's laggards on fears that the credit crunch would hurt earnings, with ANZ down two percent in trade today. Traders that believe the weakness presents a buying opportunity bought leveraged exposure through ANZIMD May 2008 $24.00 Instalment.
BHP Billiton's shares have also dropped today after base metals sunk lower in London trade overnight, prompting traders to buy in anticipation of a recovery through BHPWMF Sep07 $36.50 Call.
Brambles shares are also sharply lower after fresh fears emerged overnight that the US is heading towards a recession. Traders believing today's weakness is overdone looked to BXBWMI Oct07 $14.00 Call and BXBIML Mar08 $10.00 Instalment.
Turning now to market indices. The majority of indexes are down this morning but the index posting the biggest gain by percentage points is the Energy index, up 81 points at 14,165. Woodside Petroleum said this morning that it had agreed to sell liquefied natural gas from its Browse project off Western Australia to PetroChina, sending shares 2.50% higher to $46.33. Energy Resources Australia and Worley Parsons shares are also higher.
The Financial Ex Property Trust Price Index is the worst performing index by percentage points and has lost 116 points to 7,146. Allco Finance Group shares are one of the biggest decliners and are down 3.77% to $8.16. Challenger Financial Services and Babcock & Brown have also lost ground.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei is 272 points in the red and in New Zealand the NZSX50 is down 27.
Gold is currently trading at $683.70 U.S an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 82.31 U.S cents.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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