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MARKET CLOSE
(4.30pm AEST)
The Australian sharemarket fell for the third time this week, with the ASX 200 index (XJO) dropping 0.5 pct or 24.1 pts to 4490.7 while the broader All Ordinaries index (XAO) losing 0.5 pct or 21.9 pts to 4561.3. Most sectors fell today, however some modest gains from mining and energy companies helped minimise the losses.
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The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index rose 0.34 pct or 45.2 pts to 13502.3. Australia's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) fell 0.07 pct or 3 cents to $43.60 while RIO Tinto (RIO) ended flat. The S&P/ASX 200 Energy index improved by 0.24 pct or 35.4 pts to 14781.5.
The S&P/ASX 200 Financials index fell 1.15 pct or 47.3 pts to 4076.2 with the four majors all losing ground. Westpac (WBC) fell 1.75 pct or 37 cents to $20.77, National Australia Bank (NAB) dropped 1.26 pct or 30 cents to $23.46, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ended 1.17 pct or 58 cents lower to $49.02 and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) eased by 0.85 pct or 18 cents to $20.98.
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It was a terrible day for the retailers, sparked by David Jones (DJS) announcing a substantial 15 to 20 pct cut in profit expectations for the six months between July and December this year. DJS shares lost 18.16 pct (trading at its lowest level since May 2009). Myer (MYR) slumped 6.42 pct despite reaffirming its profit expectations. Discount retailer JB Hi-Fi (JBH) and Harvey Norman (HVN) both fell in the order of 5 pct.
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Media giant, Newscorp (NWS) gained for the first time in four days with its shares rising 3.12 pct or 46 cents to $15.20. Overnight, Rupert Murdoch abandoned the $12.5 billion bid of British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSKYB) and is set to lose around $90 million in fees. SKY is the largest pay-TV operator in the U.K and has over 10 million subscribers. Despite today's gains, NWS has fallen 7.3 pct over the past five days.
The price of gold is sitting at an all-time high and has risen by 12 pct since January this year. Australia's largest gold miner, Newcrest Mining (NCM) gained 2.16 pct or 84 cents to $39.80. NCM is currently the number four gold miner in the world and has a market capitalisation (number of shares issued by the company multiplied by the current share price) of $30.4 billion. This makes it slightly smaller than Australia's second largest miner, RIO Tinto (RIO).
Canadian company, Barrick Gold (ABX:CA) is the world's largest gold producer employing over 16,000 people and is the owner of dozens of mines. Barrick has several mines in Australia, the U.S, Tanzania, Argentina, Canada and Peru. Barrick has a market capitalisation of around US$48 billion. This makes it around 30 pct larger than Telstra (TLS), Australia's largest telco.
It has been an impressive week for the coal miners, after MacArthur Coal (MCC) received a $5 billion takeover offer from two large foreign miners including Peabody Energy earlier in the week. MCC shares are up 33 pct so far this week and improved by a modest 0.79 pct or 12 cents to $15.34 today.
On the rural front overnight, U.S grain markets gained strongly with the price of wheat jumping by 6.3 pct. This has taken the weekly gains for wheat to just under 10 pct.
Prospects for next week
Next week will be a quiet one for economic releases. On Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will publish its latest car sales report for the month of June. Expectations are for a fall of around 1 pct over the month.
Over the past 12 months around one million motor vehicles were sold in Australia (this includes trucks and normal passenger cars). This compares to around 13 million cars sold in both the U.S and China over the year.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release its latest minutes from the July interest rate meeting. The minutes can give an occasional hint into what the central bank might be thinking in term of interest rate movements in the future.
