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ASX Afternoon Market Wrap – 3rd February 2012
3-Feb: Shares closed with moderate losses today, ahead of a key US jobs report that’s likely to provide more clues on the health of the world's largest economy.
After notching small gains in the morning, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.4 per cent at 4251.20, bringing weekly losses to 0.9 per cent and paring year-to-date gains to 4.8 per cent.
The muted trading at the end of the week followed a mixed finish for US stocks ahead of the jobs report set for release later in the global trading day. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect that the US economy added 121,000 jobs in January and the jobless rate likely held steady at 8.5 per cent.
Miners outperformed the broader Australian market, with deal news sparking a bit of interest in the sector after Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata said it was in merger talks with commodity trading giant Glencore International. That move could create one of the world’s largest mining companies.
Trade in uranium producer Extract Resources was halted in Sydney today, ahead of an announcement. Reports suggested that the firm may be in line for a bid from China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp, worth roughly $2.2 billion.
At 1600 AEST the 12 GICS indices were:-
Discretion 1,228 down 5.1
Consumer Staples 7,244.1 down 82.2
Energy 13,747 down 10.6
Financials 4,009.6 down 18.3
Fin-x-property 4,601.7 down 20.9
Gold 6,997.0 up 63.2
Health 7,790.1 down 88
Industrials 3,570.5 up 5.1
Info Technology 497.1 up 1.3
Materials 11,629.6 down 19.8
Metals and Mining 4,178.7 down 4.1
Resources 4,856.3 down 5.4
Telecommunications 1,142.0 down 6.3
Utilities 4,596.3 down 45.3
Individual stock performances
BHP Billiton was at $37.60 down 2 cents. Rio Tinto was at $70.50 down 22 cents.
Banks
Westpac was at $20.79 down 13 cents. NAB was at $23.72 down 17 cents. ANZ was at $21.11 down 25 cents. Commonwealth Bank was at $50.57 down 9 cents.
Media
News Corp was at $18.26 down 22 cents. John Fairfax was at 77 cents down 1 cent.
Retail
Woolworths was at $24.35 down 25 cents. Harvey Norman was at $2.03 down 1 cent. David Jones was at $2.54 down 6 cents.
Toll Holdings was at $5.20 up 10 cents. Qantas was at $1.60 flat.
Food
Coca Cola was at $11.49 down 13. Goodman Fielder was at 53 cents down 1 cent.
Insurance
AMP was at $4.23 flat. QBE was at $11.87 up 44 cents. IAG was at $2.91 even.
Gold
Gold was up $1.10, or .06 per cent to trade at $1,760 an ounce.
Oil
Oil was also up by 9 cents, or .09 per cent to trade at $96.45 a barrell.
Dollar
At 1600 AEST the Australia dollar was:
AUD/USD 1.06
AUD/EUR .813
AUD/GBP .675
AUD/JPY 81.42
AUD/NZD 1.28
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Market News (Search) US Stocks down
3-Feb-2012
Red Gum Resources (RGX) geochemical sampling
3-Feb-2012
Decmil (DCG) Awarded Contract for 1,500 Person Village
3-Feb-2012
World¡¦s largest integrated geothermal company
3-Feb-2012
Trade surplus widens in December
2-Feb-2012
Building approvals fall 1 per cent in December
2-Feb-2012
Clough (CLO) awarded Wheatstone Offshore Hook-Up and Commissioning contract
2-Feb-2012
Sheffield Resources (SFX) HMS Exploration target at Iriwn
2-Feb-2012
Coles posts record 4.9 billion Christmas sales
2-Feb-2012
AtCor (ACG) awarded $1.1 million commercialisation Australia grant
2-Feb-2012
BHP to commence outer harbour development for Port Headland
2-Feb-2012
Buccaneer Energy's latest acquisition
2-Feb-2012
Boral’s sale of Indonesian Construction Materials Business for US$135 million
1-Feb-2012
Uranex possible JV with Mkuju Uranium
1-Feb-2012
Molopo Energy’s Investor Presentation
1-Feb-2012
Discovery Resources Renewal Granted
1-Feb-2012
Argonaut commences drilling
1-Feb-2012
ActiveEX rare earth assay results upgrade
31-Jan-2012
Australian Agricultural Company’s annual results
31-Jan-2012
Woolworths to sell Dick Smith
31-Jan-2012
Woolies half year results
31-Jan-2012
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