Following a negative lead from Wall St overnight Aussie shares are lower at midday with the miners leading the declines on concern for the economic recovery after China revealed plans to tighten its monetary policy.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 25 points lower at 4,875 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s down 32 points.
In company news: Challenger Infrastructure Fund (ASX:CIF) has received $304 million dollars for the sale of Southern Water, which was announced in November 2009. The proceeds will be used to progress a number of fund and asset level capital management initiatives over the next 12-24 months. These include the repayment of CIF’s $122.1 million worth of redeemable preference securities, improving the company’s capital structure, and the buying back on-market of up to 10% of the company’s ordinary securities. Challenger Infrastructure Fund shares are down 0.29% to $1.735 Mineral exploration company Cazaly Resources Ltd (ASX:CAZ) says a pre feasibility study has confirmed the technical and economic viability of its Parker Range iron ore project in Western Australia. Cazaly’s says the project’s close location to existing and accessible infrastructure including road, rail, and port, will allow for the relatively rapid ramp up to full production of 4 million tonnes per annum within 1.5 years. The company is aiming for its first shipment of ore form the project in the third quarter of 2011. Shares in Cazaly Resources are up 18.52% to $0.32
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Telco Services index up 15 points at 1,153. Shares in Amcom Telecom advanced 1.72% to 29.5 cents. Shares in Telstra and Pipe Networks also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Energy index, down 289 to 16,255. Shares in WorleyParsons fell 10.56% to $26.25. While shares in Santos and Energy Resources of Australia are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 9 points lower. Turning to the top 5 stocks by turnover: Fletcher Building tops the list stock down 0.83% at $8.40 followed by; Telecom of New Zealand, Auckland Airport, Downer EDI, and Guinness Peat.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,130.90 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 92.21 US cents.
