The local share market has closed the week much as it began, with investor uncertainty keeping shares steady.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 9 points higher at 4,872, up 54 points on the week, while on the futures market, the SPI200 is up 12.
Looking to the U.S. and on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial index rose 154 points on the four trading days this week. The S&P500 Index added 16, the NASDAQ gained 24 points and the 100 index lifted 20 points.
To company news around this afternoon: Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) has upgraded the size of its Solomon iron ore deposit by 300 million tonnes, which it says will underwrite a major mining operation at the project. The miner says the total resource portfolio of the Solomon Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has increased to 2.7 billion tonnes from 2.4 billion tonnes. The resource upgrade will underwrite the first stage of a mining operation at the project, with a target production of 60 million tonnes per year. The required minimum life of the mine is 20 years of production. Just last week, the company revealed plans to start building a $6.2 billion second phase of the Solomon project. Shares in Fortescue Metals lost 1.02% to $4.85.
AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGK) will sell the Berwyndale to Wallumbilla gas pipeline to APA Group (ASX:APA) for $82.6 million. The company says the sale will result in a before tax profit of about $2 million after transaction costs, which will be used to scale down AGL’s bank debt. AGL says it has also entered into a 17-year Gas Transportation Agreement (GTA) with APA in relation to the pipeline, which includes an option for increased capacity that could see APA make an additional payment to AGL of up to $21 million. AGL managing director Michael Fraser says the construction of the Berwyndale to Wallumbilla pipeline early last year was necessary to transport gas to market because options were limited at the time. However, Mr Fraser says there is no longer a need for AGL to own the pipeline now that it has a long-term transportation agreement in place. Shares in AGL Energy are up 0.8% at $15.09.
Also making news: Shares in biopharmaceutical company CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) surged to a 12 month high this afternoon after CEO Brian McNamee announced he has raised $8.4 million from the sale of a portion of his shares in the company.
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) has signed an agreement with Chinalco to jointly develop the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, west Africa. Under the deal, Rio will put its current 95% holding in Simandou into the new joint venture and Chinalco will invest $1.35 billion for a 47% stake.
Packaging group Amcor Ltd (ASX:AMC) is facing a potential $697 million damages claim from customers related to its engagement in price fixing with rival Visy Industries in 2007.
And Arrow Energy Ltd (ASX:AOE) is reportedly close to getting Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina to agree to a deal to lift their $3.3 billion bid for the company. Arrow today asked for its shares to be suspended pending an update to the market about the takeover offer.
In the best and worst performers: Among the best performing sectors at close was the Consumer Staples index, up 67 points at 7,845. One of the worst performing sectors was the Materials index; falling 27 points to 12,710.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Extract Resources, shares rose 14.38% to $8.35. Shares in Eastern Star Gas and Roc Oil Group also closed higher today.
The worst performing stock was FKP Property Group, shares are down 8.61% to $0.69, while shares in Incitec Pivot and James Hardie also closed lower today.
And finally, the Aussie dollar is trading at 92.18 US cents - up more than half a cent on the week. In commodities, gold is trading at $1,124.40 U.S an ounce and was up $22.35 on the week, and oil is down $0.14 to $82.06 U.S cents a barrel.
