Sydney, Oct 19, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
The share market retreated today with Macquarie Bank coming under some selling pressure. It was a familiar story disappointing earnings from a major U.S. bank reigniting concerns about global credit markets.
The S &P/ASX 200 Index closed down 61 points to 6706, and is down 43 points on the week. On the futures market the SPI 200 lost 76 points.
Looking to US indices now, the Dow Jones industrial Index fell 204 points over the four day trading week. The S &P 500 shed 22 points, the NASDAQ lost 6, but the 100 index bucked the trend managing to gain 10 points during the week.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/ZWMV9P0VTurning to company news now, Macquarie Infrastructure has appointed a new CEO. John Hughes has been picked as the man for the job he's been with Macquarie since 1997 and has a background in the infrastructure and resources sectors. Chairman Mark Johnson says Mr Hughes brought a broad range of experience to MIG. Mr Hughes replaces Stephen Allen. He'll take up his new role on November 19. Shares in Macquarie Infrastructure Group ended the session 1.25% lower at $3.17, losing 1.55% on the week.
And Murchison Metals says its offer for Midwest Corporation represents good value. In a letter to shareholders, the company said it had a very attractive stand-alone future through its ties with Mitsubishi. Murchsion says the completion of its deal with Mitsubishi provides the platform it needs to achieve its long-held ambition to develop the Jack Hills iron ore project. Murchison is offering one share for every 1.08 Midwest shares, valuing the acquisition at around $1 billion.
Shares in Murchison Metals ended the session 0.19% higher at $5.25, but shed 1.32 per cent on the week.
Taking a look at some of the week's main stories now, shares in Santos were placed on a trading halt before it was confirmed that the South Australian government had removed the company's 15 per cent ownership cap. The cap had been in place for the past 28 years, and was put there to secure the state's natural gas supply and block an expected takeover by corporate raider Alan Bond. The restructure sees Santos committed to keeping 90% off its jobs in the South Australia, a $60 million contribution to community causes over a 10 year period, and a $100m compensation package if it breaks those commitments. The cap will be fully removed over a 12 month period to allow for a smooth transition. Shares in Santos ended the session 2.05% higher at $15.90, and are up 3.25% on the week.
And Rio Tinto has posted near record iron ore production but that failed to impress analysts. The world's third largest miner managed to produce 36.39 million tonnes of iron ore during the three months to September. That's a 2 per cent increase on the same period last year. Meanwhile Rio's copper output fell 6 per cent in the third quarter because of lower metal content in its ore. Coal output was also lower, and aluminium production was flat. However, refined copper production was up and accounted for almost half of first-half profits, with analysts expecting that trend to continue. Shares in the Rio Tinto ended the session 2.86% lower to close at $109.60, and are down 1.88% on the week.
And now to today's best and worst performers, all the major indices were down today. The index which fell the least amount was the Consumer Staples index declining 13 points to 8710, while the worst performing index was the Utilities index shedding 106 points to 6907.
AWB was the best performer in the S &P/ASX top 200 today surging 20% to $2.76; Sino Gold and Newcrest Mining also made solid gains.
At the other end of the index; STW Communications Group was the worst performing stock losing 6.46% to $2.46; Iluka Resources and Pan Australian Resources also finished lower.
The Aussie dollar is currently fetching 89.35 U.S cents and is down more than a cent on the week.
Gold is trading at $769.30 U.S an ounce and gained $20.10 on the week's trading.
And finally, oil moved 11 cents firmer to $89.58 U.S a barrel and is up $5.81 cents on the week.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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