With further losses on Wall Street the ASX opened lower this morning and is 0.07 per cent down at noon.
Continuing weakness in iron ore prices saw the materials sector losing ground. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both lost more than 1 per cent
Meanwhile the energy sector supported the market today, despite a further softening in oil prices overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 5 points down and sits just below 5,400. On the futures market the SPI is 2 points lower.
Economic news
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released lending finance figures for November with both personal finance and commercial finance both dropping in the month. Also for November we’ve seen job vacancies numbers increase. The ABS says vacancies in November were up 1.3 per cent from August.
Company news
Shares in Syrah Resources Limited
(ASX:SYR) have jumped on news its graphite anodes offer superior performance to other manufacturers.
The resources explorer says its spherical graphite, suitable for use in lithium ion batteries, has been tested by Japanese battery producers which showed higher performance than typical Chinese natural anodes. The resource comes from the company’s Balama graphite project in Mozambique, a preliminary study points towards a 25,000 tpa production scenario for its spherical graphite plant. Shares in Syrah are trading up 3.93 per cent at $3.17.
St Barbara Limited
(ASX:SBM) has seen its shares gain as it announces a turnaround in production for the December quarter.
The mining company says its Leonora gold mine in WA produced record number of ounces in the quarter. In December the Simberi operations in PNG reported its first month of positive net cash flows since acquisition. Shares in St Barbara are trading up 1.79 per cent at $0.14.
Best and worst performers The best performing sector is energy, gaining 1.2 per cent to 10,883. Shares in Liquefied Natural Gas Limited
(ASX:LNG) have risen 7.5 per cent and trading at $2.15. Shares in Senex Energy Limited
(ASX:SXY) and Drillsearch Energy Limited
(ASX:DLS) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is materials, falling 1.2 per cent to 8,516. Shares in Sandfire Resources NL
(ASX:SFR) have fallen 6.28 per cent, trading at $4.18. Shares in Fortescue Metals Group Limited
(ASX:FMG) and PanAust Limited
(ASX:PNA) are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,232 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.8180.
