Monday falls: Aus shares 0.66% lower at noon

Market Reports

by David Chau

It has been a lacklustre start to the week for the Australian share market, following mixed leads from Wall Street on Friday.  The local bourse fell at the open and has continued to linger in negative territory in the first two hours of trade is tracking 0.66 per cent lower at lunch time.

We have seen the materials space retreat with the big miners BHP and Rio Tinto shedding around 1 and 1.5 per cent respectively.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 35 points lower at 5,336. On the futures market the SPI is 16 points lower.

Company news

St Barbara Limited (ASX:SBM) says it has completed a strategic review of its Simberi assets in Papua New Guinea. The gold miner says it will continue to retain and operate the mine, as potential buyers did not meet St Barbara’s assessment of the value of the assets. The company has also stated that it has entered into an Option and Farm in agreement with Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) for copper-gold exploration on two nearby islands in the region. Shares in St Barbara are trading down 8.1 per cent at $2.33.

AGL Energy Limited (ASX:AGL) says it has reached final close on selling its 102MW Nyngan and 53MW Broken Hill solar plants into the Powering Australian Renewables Fund. AGL has written a long term off take agreement with the solar plants as part of the $257 million sale. The company says the fund will continue to raise debt on a project by project basis. Shares in AGL are trading down 0.36 per cent at $19.17.

Best and worst performers

The best performing sector is Telcos, gaining 1.2 per cent to 1,709. Shares in Telstra have risen 1.48 per cent and trading at $4.79. Though shares in Spark NZ and TPG Telecom are lower.

The worst performing sector is Materials, falling 1.6 per cent to 9,573. Shares in Resolute Mining have fallen 9.68 per cent, trading at $1.26. Shares in Northern Star and Evolution Mining are also lower.

Gold and the dollar

Gold is trading at $US1,216 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying $US0.7528.

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