Following steep offshore falls at the end of last week the Australian share market has dropped 1 per cent at open. Concerns about Greece’s debt load and China’s stimulus initiatives have weighed on sentiment.
While the benchmark has bounced from lows it is still deeply in the red, dragged down by the health, industrial and financial sectors. Telco’s are defying the trend and trading stronger and the miners are showing resilience on the back of a stronger gold price.
Figures
The S&P/ASX 200 index has retreated 52 points to 5,826. On the futures market the SPI is 51 points lower.
Economic news
CommSec has released its State of the States report, painting a picture of how Australia’s states and territories are performing. Commsec reported New South Wales shared the top spot of Australia’s economic performance rankings alongside the Northern Territory at the beginning of the year. However three months later Commsec says New South Wales has edged ahead to take sole ownership of the top ranking, followed by the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Victoria.
Company news
Asciano Limited
(ASX:AIO) has confirmed its target to improve annual earnings despite posting a decline in coal haulage over the third quarter. The rail and ports operator’s quarterly coal volumes eased 2 per cent as its New South Wales services suffered disruptions. Looking ahead Asciano expects to boost underlying earnings by more than the 5 per cent over the full 2015 financial year due to higher volumes and improvement initiatives. Shares in Asciano are trading 1.7 per cent lower at $6.35.
Arrium Limited
(ASX:ARI) has shown it ramped up production in the third quarter despite being hit with the plunging price of iron ore. The mining and steel group saw an average realised iron ore price of $US46 per tonne over the period, down $US18 per tonne on the prior quarter. Arrium says bearish sentiment to Chinese steel production and concerns about increased supply from the majors has weighed heavily on iron ore markets. Shares in Arrium have declined 5.88 per cent to $0.16 at noon.
Best and worst performers
The only sector trading higher is telco services, gaining 0.2 per cent to 2,182. Shares in Spark New Zealand Limited
(ASX:SPK) have risen 0.88 per cent and trading at $2.86. Shares in Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS) and Singapore Telecommunications Limited
(ASX:SGT) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is health care, falling 1.3 per cent to 19,215. Shares in Mesoblast Limited
(ASX:MSB) have eased 3.96 per cent, trading at $3.64. Shares in Greencross Limited
(ASX:GXL) and Healthscope Limited
(ASX:HSO) are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is buying $US1,206 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7816.
