Sydney, Oct 5, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Australian shares have risen in morning trade, buoyed by a recovery in top miner BHP Billiton after a two-session sell off, while the rebound in oil prices lifted energy firms like Woodside Petroleum. However analysts cautioned that further upside could be limited as valuations were starting to look expensive following the market's recent record breaking run.
At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index is up 27 to 6,594 and on the futures market the SPI- 200's steady.
In company news this hour, Australian gaming machine maker Aristocrat Leisure has hit out at rumours of a huge multimillion dollar class action claim. Local media reports put the damages claim as high as $396 million after Dorajay launched a suit representing shareholders who claim to have suffered losses in 2003 due to a sharp fall in the stocks price after a series of profit downgrades. However Aristocrat made a statement against the reported figures saying the potential value of the claims could be as low as $10 - $20 million dollars. Shares in the poker machines manufacturer are basically steady, lifting 0.07% to $14.02 in morning trade.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3E397U23The start of oil production at Australia's Puffin field is imminent with independent company AED Oil saying it expects the first oil within two days. The field, the biggest addition this year to Australia's struggling oil output, was initially expected to come on-stream in 2006, but the start-up was delayed to this summer and then to mid-to-late September as the field underwent testing. The oilfield, located in the Timor Sea is expected to produce between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels of crude per day and is similar in content to Asian benchmark Tapis crude. Shares in AED Oil have improved 2.55% to $9.65.
Now to warrants with Macquarie Bank. Activity has been subdued as traders are reluctant to open large positions ahead of a potentially market-moving payroll number out tonight in the US. That said, investors that liked yesterday's announcement around the approval of a pulp mill for Gunns have opened large positions through GNSIMF Nov07 $1.75 Instalment.
Warrant traders have also been active in mid-cap miner Oxiana, with interest see in OXRWMB Nov07 $3.23 Call.
Turning now to market indices. As expected, energy companies are driving the market higher this morning, the index is up 219 points 15,578, Shares in Arrow Energy added 5.44% to $2.52, Oil Search and Santos are also large cap gainers.
The worse performing index by percentage points in the Telco index, which is down by 4 points to 1,550. Shares in Telecom NZ slipped 0.77% to $3.87. Telstra IRS and Telstra shares also retreated.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei is down 49 and in New Zealand the NZSX-50 is down 15.
Gold is currently trading at $736.40 US an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 88.9 U.S cents.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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