Australian shares are slightly lower at midday, after a flat finish on Wall St overnight, with falls in resource stocks like top miners BHP and Rio Tinto weighing on the market.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 6 points at 4,449 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 1 point.
To business news at midday: Casino operator Crown Ltd (ASX:CWN) has reported a $1.2 billion loss for the year compared to a profit of $3.55 billion the year before. The loss came after the company wrote-down the carrying value of its North American investments by $1.44 billion due to the impact of the global financial crisis, Crown admitting its investments in North America were ill-timed. CEO Rowan Craigie says the company will focus on its Australian and Macau operations over the coming year and says Crown’s capability and financial strength places it in a strong position for the future. Crown shares rose 2.25 per cent to $8.17.
Gaming machine operator Tatts Group Ltd (ASX:TTS) says its full year net profit rose 7.7 per cent to $277.4 million. Revenue rose 5.1 per cent to $3.25 billion for the year. Tatts says although this is a robust result the immediate future for the company needs to be considered against the backdrop of the 2009 financial year results and any views on future consumption spending within Australia and the UK. The company says customers began to change their spending patterns last August. Tatts says the changes were masked by a drop in petrol prices, falling interest rates, decisions by consumers to defer major purchases and the Federal Government’s stimulus package. As these benefits wash out of the broader economy and unemployment rises, Tatts says growth rates can be expected to slow. Shares in Tatts Group fell 2.68 per cent to $2.54.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index up 14 points to 875. Shares in Mirvac Group up 6.37 per cent at $1.42. Shares in Stockland and Westfield Group are also stronger at noon.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Materials index, down 135 points at 11,140. Shares in Macarthur Coal down 5.64 per cent to $8.87. Shares in Bannerman Resources and Mt Gibson Iron are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 6 points lower. Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: Telstra heads the list, stock steady at $4.30, followed by Telecom of New Zealand, Fletcher Building, AMP and Nuplex Industries.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $946.20 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 82.60 US cents.
