The Australian share market has dipped at midday investors pulling back on concern for the economy’s growth following cautious earnings outlooks from Qantas, AMP, and the ASX.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 27 points at 4,641 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 25 points.
In economic news: NAB released its business survey for the December quarter today with its main measure of business confidence rising 2 points to a read of 18, the highest read since the fourth quarter of 1994.
In company news: Service provider to the resource and energy sectors WorleyParsons Ltd (ASX:WOR) says first half net profit for fiscal 2010 fell 30% to $138 million compared to $197.5 million recorded for the same period last year. The company says the result was impacted by a stronger Aussie dollar exchange rate which detracted $10.9 million, as well as diminished demand for services in the oil and sands market in Canada and in the minerals and metals sector. The company says it is still confident of meeting its expectations for net profit after tax in the range of $280 million to $320 million for fiscal 2010 saying that it is encouraged by increasing activity in a number of regions. WorleyParsons declared an interim dividend of 35.5 cents a share. Shares in WorleyParsons fell 1% to $23.76.
Oil and gas producer Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) has posted a 73.7% decline in profit for 2009. Net profit after tax for the 12 months to December 31, 2009 came to $434 million compared to $1.7 billion in 2008. Underlying net profit of $257 million dropped from its profit of $548 million in 2008, impacted by lower product prices, reducing sales revenue by $600 million. The company says production for 2009 came to 54.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, and confirmed 2010 production guidance of between 51 and 54 million barrels of oil equivalent. Santos declared a final dividend for the year of 20 cents a share. Shares in Santos dropped 1.32% to $13.43.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Telco Services index, up 9 points at 1,074. Shares in Telstra rose 0.97% to $3.13. Shares in Singtel and Pipe Networks are also higher.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Materials index, down 155 points to 12,058. Shares in Sims Metal Management fell 7.53% to $19.88. While shares in Equinox Minerals and Dominion Mining are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 5 points lower. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Auckland Airport tops the list stocks down 1.63% at $1.81 followed by Telecom of New Zealand, Fletcher Building, and Rakon.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,101.85 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 89.66 US cents.
