Banks and miners lead market rout
Australian stocks followed their peers on Wall Street lower as investors wait anxiously for the release of all important US jobs figures tonight. Resource stocks were the most heavily sold as every sector fell below the gain line.
At midday, the All Ords lost 51.5 to 4,737.8, while the ASX/200 fell 53.9 to 4,720.7. About 940 million shares worth around $1.5 billion had changed hands.
Materials and Resources weakened 1.9% as metals prices fell on the London Metals Exchange overnight. The price of lead was down 3%, while copper slid 0.7%
BHP Billiton took almost 10 points off the index to be trading at $41.69, while rival Rio Tinto dropped $1.74, or 2.4% to $71.77.
Fortescue slid 3% to $4.27.
A rise in the price of gold to record levels couldn’t stop Newcrest and Lihir shares from falling 2.7% each. They were trading at $38.14 and $3.58 respectively.
Building materials companies James Hardie and Boral fell 4.1% and 2.8% to $8.15 and $5.55 respectively.
Incitec Pivot rose 1c to $3.15 as it decided to place US$800 million in unsecured notes into the US 144A bond market rather than the Australian debt market. The company said the funds raised from the notes would be used to repay the remaining $352 million balance of the its Working Capital Facility entered into in March 2009.
Energy majors were relatively flat, however there were strong gains among the smaller capped companies.
The sector dipped 0.6% as concerns over high oil stocks continued to weigh on crude futures.
Origin weakened 5c to $15.91 after the company said it would pay US$50 million to further the development of five exploration blocks across Asia as a part of a farm-in agreement with UK oil and gas explorer Salamander Energy.
Woodside shed 11c to $49.25.
Santos shed 1.5% to $14.92 and Oil Search added 0.7% to $6.04. As part of the PNG LNG project the two companies announced the positive news that Sinopec subsidiary Unipec Asia Co agreed to purchase million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas for a period of 20 years.
Whitehaven Coal jumped 16c, or 3.6% to $4.57 after becoming one of six companies added to the S&P/ASX 200.
Banks and Financials struggled to be down 1%. CBA was the best of the big four, up 5c to $54.16. The other three were between 1% and 1.4% below the line.
Macquarie Group shed 93c to $48.16, while IAG was the worst of the insurers, down 15c, or 3.8% to $3.84.
Stockland underperformed a weak Property Trusts sector. The stock was 2.6% lower at $3.79, while the overall sector slid 1.1%.
Industrials lost 0.8%, led by a $1.15, or a 3.1% fall to $36.30 from sector heavyweight Leighton Holdings.
Skilled Group slumped 15.5% to $1.875 after saying it was likely to miss analysts FY10 earnings estimates.
Consumer Discretionary weakened 1.4% following a particularly disappointing morning from retailers and gamers.
Harvey Norman and David Jones dropped 3.4% and 2.1% to $4.32 and $5.64 respectively, while Tabcorp and Crown took a third of a point off the major index each to be trading at $7.16 and $8.07.
Media company Fairfax dipped 1.5c to $1.675.
A mixed start to the day from Consumer Staples resulted in it being the best performing sector, down just 0.3%.
Wesfarmers lost 22c to $29.08, while Woolworths gained 10c to $28.04.
Among the smaller companies, Goodman Fielder shed 2.7% to $1.60 and Graincorp advanced 2.6% to $6.02.
Telstra lost 4c to $3.45 as the ACCC announced a freeze on the price the company can charge to allow competitors access to its home phone lines. The Telecommunications sector was 1.1% in the red.
Around the region, the Nikkei 225 lost 35.2 to 9,942.5, while the Straits Times Index slid 11.1 to 2,797.1. Meanwhile, the NZSE50 weakened 8.7 to 3,145.2.
Spot gold was trading at US$1,202.20 per ounce, and the Aussie was buying US$0.9220.
Sinopec to buy gas from PNG LNG project
The PNG LNG Project, which includes Santos and Oil Search, have finalised a binding agreement with Sinopec subsidiary Unipec Asia Co for the long-term sale and purchase of liquefied natural gas totaling approximately two million tonnes per annum. In a statement released this morning it said under the agreement, the PNG LNG Project would supply LNG to Sinopec for a period of 20 years.
At lunchtime, Oil Search shares were trading up 4c to $6.04, while Santos shares were trading down 26c to $14.89.
Origin in US$50m farm-in with Salamander
Origin Energy said that it would pay US$50 million to further the development of five explorations blocks across Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as a part of a farm-in agreement with UK oil and gas explorer Salamander Energy.
At the close Thursday, Origin shares were trading down 5c to $15.91.
Skilled Group slumps on earnings concerns
Skilled Group shares slumped 15.3% in morning trade after saying that it would be unlikely to meet the broad analysts consensus of $88 million in EBITDA for the current financial year. Skilled said the poor result was partly due to a corporate strategy aimed at rebuilding the company and delivering strong results from FY11 onwards.
At noon, Skilled Group was down 34c to $1.88.
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