Following a weak lead from Wall St at the end of last week, Aussie shares are lower at midday. Softer commodity prices weighing down the major miners like Rio Tinto who also fell on concern for the situation of executive Stern Hu in China.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 22 points lower at 3,773 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s down 18 points.
To business news at midday: Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) says June quarter and full year production results exceeded previous estimates saying it expects to maintain a run rate of 35 million tonnes a year for the moment. The company says it mined 8.89 million tonnes of iron ore in the June quarter and 31 million tonnes for the full year. Fortescue shipped 7.98 million tonnes for the June quarter and 27.31 million tonnes for the full year. The miner says the bottom line shipping rate achieved in June of 3.29 million tonnes is materially above the June quarter average and places Fortescue on its way to achieve the first targeted milestone rate of 45 million tonnes per annum. Fortescue Metals Group shares rose 5 per cent to $3.57.
Building products, sugar and aluminium company CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) has responded to media reports today of rumoured investment opportunities within its Sugar business. The company says as part of the due diligence of a potential demerger of its Sugar and Renewable Energy business, CSR is considering a range of options for the structure of the two businesses on demerger. However as yet no decisions have been taken on the range of options available. CSR says it will keep shareholders informed of any further material developments as they occur. CSR shares fell 0.31 per cent to $1.595.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector midday is the Utilities index up 6 points to 3,939. Shares in AGL Energy are up 0.66 per cent at $13.79. Shares in Duet Group and Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund are also higher at noon.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Industrials index down 30 points to 2,822. Shares in Seek are down 3.27 per cent to $3.84. Shares in Alesco Corp and Qantas are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 3 points higher.
Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: Fletcher Building tops the list, stock up 0.46 per cent at $6.58, followed by ANZ, Telecom of New Zealand, Lion Nathan and Mainfreight.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $914.45 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 78 US cents.
