Australian shares closed mildly lower on a trading day that saw low volumes although fared better than U.S. markets overnight. Financial and material sectors were a drag on the local market while gains were seen in property and energy stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 10 points lower at 4,744 while on the futures market, the SPI200’s down 11.
The economic news of the day was the Australian Bureau of Statistics saying August saw a 0.9 per cent increase in retail sales.
The ABS also said that building approvals declined 0.1 per cent in August.
To company news around this afternoon: National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is selling $500 million worth of hybrid Tier 1 securities to Deutsche Bank in London in order to strengthen its capital position. Tier 1 is a form of liquid capital that banks are required to maintain as a cushion to protect bank deposits and the securities will pay a monthly coupon of 200 basis points over the one-month bank bill swap rate. NAB shares closed the session 1.47% lower at $30.76.
Macquarie Airports’ (ASX:MAP) Chief executive Kerrie Mather said at a special general meeting for shareholders today that the company has seen an improvement in passenger numbers in recent months and reaffirmed its calendar year distribution guidance. The comments were made at a meeting for shareholders to vote on a proposal to internalise the company’s management. The meeting went ahead after a group called the Global Airports consortium abandoned its attempts to gain an injunction against the meeting. Macquarie Airports shares closed 0.35% higher at $2.84.
Also making news: Wealth manager Perpetual (ASX:PPT) has acquired Sydney based financial and tax advisory firm Grosvenor Financial Services for $19.6 million as part of a strategy to expand its private wealth business.
Felix Resources’ (ASX:FLX) independent report by Deloitte has found that the $3.54 billion bid for Felix by Chinese state-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining is fair and reasonable. The takeover would be the largest Chinese takeover of an Australian company to date.
Taking a look at some of the stories covered in our earlier reports: Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) has missed a financing deadline in relation to its agreement with China’s Baosteel Group and China Iron & Steel Association.
Rare earths group Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX:LYC) is to undertake an equity raising to raise around $450 million.
In the best and worst performers: The best performing sector at close was the Consumer Discretionary index, up 28 points to 1,631 while the worst performing index by percentage points was the Financial excluding the Real Estate Investment Trust index; which lost 31 points to 5,718.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Goodman Group as it released its annual report which said it is expecting to achieve an earnings-per-share target of 5.7c per share on an undiluted basis for 2010. Shares jumped 9.02 per cent to $0.665. Shares in Mirvac Group and Panaust also gained.
The worst performing stock was Energy World Corporation and shares fell 6.67 per cent to $0.42. Shares in Paperlinx and Sundance Resources also lost ground.
In commodities, gold is trading at $997.10 U.S an ounce and since this morning light crude is up 55 cents at $67.26 U.S a barrel.
