Sydney, Sept 6, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
It was a tug of war on the Australian share market today. Losses in U.S. exposed firms like Brambles helped push the market lower early in the day, while gains in energy producers Woodside Petroleum and Rio Tinto helped pull the market in the opposite direction.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 12 points to 6251, and on the futures market the SPI 200 climbed 23 points higher.
Turning to company news now, analysts have given Wesfarmers' improved offer for Coles Group a tentative thumbs up. A key feature of the new proposal involves the issuance of ?price protected' shares which provide some insurance against a decline in the conglomerate's stock over the next four years. In the revised cash and scrip proposal, half the shares issued to Coles investors will be new Wesfarmers Price Protected Shares. Investment firm JB Were estimates the revised offer to be worth around $15.09 per Coles share. Shares in Wesfarmers closed 0.41% lower at $38.65.
The full report is available at the following video and audio links.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/B5W18U7JAnd Paladin says it bullish on uranium. Managing director John Borshoff told delegates at the Paydirt Africa DownUnder conference in Perth that there will be an adjustment and it will then continue on an ever upward path. Mr Borshoff says at least 25 new uranium mines will be required by 2020 to meet global demand for nuclear fuel. The uranium miner says it aims for eight to nine million pounds of uranium oxide output by 2010 from its two uranium mines in Namibia and Malawi. Shares in Paladin closed 2.68% lower at $5.80.
In other news today, shares in the travel.com.au surged after online travel agency Webjet made a cash and scrip offer for the firm to the tune of around $42.3 million.
Miner Aquarius Platinum rose after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the firm from equal weight to overweight. Morgan Stanley says the platinum miner is one of its top picks in the platinum sector.
Merrill Lynch says it's raised its fiscal 2009 earnings estimates for OneSteel by 15 per cent due to higher iron ore sales prices and increased profitability.
And shares in Rio Tinto surged today on fresh talks it could be the target of a takeover.
Now to today's best and worst performers, the best performing index was the Materials index gaining 101 points to 13716, while the worst performing index was the Financials Excluding Property Index shedding 67 points to 7195.
Aquarius Platinum was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 climbing 4.76% to $39.83; SEEK and Transfield Services also climbed higher.
Mincor Resources was the worst performing stock today sliding 5.87% to $3.37; Futuris Corp and Commander Communications also lost ground.
To commodities now, gold is currently trading at $684.30 US an ounce and light crude is 48 cents firmer at $76.21 US a barrel.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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