The local share market has closed the session lower today with banks and miners dragging the market down. The result follows Wall St’s worst day in three months on weak economic reports.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 99 points lower at 4,602 and is down 112 points on week. On the futures, the SPI200’s down 112.
Looking to the U.S. and on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial index down 156 points on the four trading days this week. The S&P500 Index dropped 15, the NASDAQ declined 33 points and the 100 index fell 28 points.
To company news around this afternoon: West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd (ASX:WAN) says it is well positioned to benefit from an improving state economy. Chairman Kerry Stokes says Western Australia has weathered the worst of the downturn better than many other economies, in part because of its strong resource base and proximity to major Asian markets. Mr Stokes says with Western Australia's economy gaining momentum, on the back of growing demand for resources, the company has implemented strategies and operating efficiencies to position it to benefit from the state's growth. West Australian Newspapers Holdings shares closed 2.37 per cent lower at $7.42.
Gold and mineral explorer Macquarie Harbour Mining Ltd (ASX:MHM) shares rally today after the company confirmed that it is in talks with a number of parties including Germany’s Wacker Chemie AG, to supply silica off take. The company says it has supplied samples to Wacker and a number of other parties for trial smelting, saying reported results have been encouraging. However no formal contracts have been executed at this time. Macquarie Harbour Mining shares soared a whopping 205.26 per cent on the news closing at $0.29.
Also making news today: Retail marketing and merchandise services company Photon Group Ltd (ASX:PGA) has announced a takeover offer for online advertising company Dark Blue Sea Ltd (ASX:DBS) for 30 cents a share.
And ratings agency Fitch has upgraded its long-term credit rating on engineering and infrastructure management services company Downer EDI Ltd (ASX:DOW) to triple ‘B’ citing a number of factors including its strong financial performance in fiscal 09. Now to the best and worst performers: All sectors closed in the red today, however the sector the sector with the smallest loss at close today was the Health Care index, down 70 points to 8,654; while the worst performing sector at close was the Materials index; down 306 points to 10,851.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX200 was Harvey Norman shares rose 4.78 per cent to $4.38. Shares in Dominion Mining and Infigen Energy also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Envestra with shares down 10.08 per cent at $0.535. Shares in Sundance Resources and Energy World Corp also closed lower today.
The Aussie dollar is currently buying 87.07 U.S cents and is up on the week. Gold is trading at $1000.80 U.S an ounce and is up $9.45 on the week.
Finally, oil is down 60 cents at $70.22 U.S a barrel.
