Weak finish: Aus shares close 0.29% lower

Market Reports

by David Chau

The Australian share market has finished 0.29% lower. Although the local bourse traded flat for the first 15 minutes of the day, it quickly fell into negative territory and failed to regain momentum.

The Energy sector was, by far, the best performer, followed by Staples and Financials.  On the other hand, REITS, gold and telco stocks dragged the market down.

Today, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 16 points down to finish at 5,467. Over the week the index managed to gain 32 points.

The value of trades was $4.9 billion on volume of 750 million shares at the close of trade. The top three stocks by value were BHP, Telstra and Westpac.

On the futures market the SPI is down 22 points.

Looking at Wall Street, US major indexes have risen over the four trading days this week: The Dow Jones has lost 0.22 per cent. The S&P 500 Index was down 0.35 percent and the NASDAQ slipped 0.1 per cent. The 100 Index was practically flat.

Company news

The Liberal state government of Western Australia has proposed to BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), the idea of a buy-out – that is, scrapping their current lease rental payments, and replacing it with a one-off payment. The mining giants are currently paying 25 cents for each tonne of iron ore to the state. But the National Party in WA is pushing to increase that by 20 times to $5 per tonne. Both mining companies have rejected the State’s buy-out proposal, but Premier Colin Barnett has confirmed he’s not giving up hope with negotiations. Shares in BHP closed 0.78% higher at $23.30.

AJ Lucas Group Limited (ASX:AJL) has announced it has received final planning consent from the British Government for an exploration site in Lancashire.

Insurance Australia Group Limited (ASX:IAG) has extended an agreement with Munich Re that covers 30% of IAG’s compulsory third party business. The new agreement is for a minimum period of 4 years, with an option to extend for a further two years.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector was Energy adding 0.72 per cent to close at 8,805. The worst performing sector was Real Estate Investment Trusts, which lost 1.88 per cent to close at 1,367 points.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Whitehaven Coal, rising 7.03 per cent to close at $2.74 cents. Shares in Asaleo Care and Independence Group also closed higher.

The worst performing stock was Estia Health, dropping 6.25 per cent to close at $3. Shares in Infigen Energy and the Trade Me Group also closed lower.

Commodities

The price of gold is trading at $US1,253 an ounce, and is down $60.41 over the week.
Light crude is $0.73 higher at $US50.56 a barrel.
The Australian dollar is buying $0.7574 and is down 1 cent over the week.

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