Aussie stocks are lower at midday as fears for the debt crisis building in Europe, ripples through the market. Declines in the major banks like NAB and Westpac, are weighing on the market after ANZ warned of funding pressures and potential stress to be placed on banks if Europe’s debt woes worsen.
The S&P/ASX200 index is 38 points lower at 4,785, and on the futures market, the SPI200’s down 37.
In economic news: According to data released by Australian Property Monitors, the national median house price rose 3.1% to $542,800 in the March quarter. This was a less than the 4.8% rise experienced in the December quarter, as rising interest rates and the end of the first home buy boost starts to have an impact on prices.
In company news: Provider of labour hire and workforce services Skilled Group Ltd (ASX:SKE) CEO has resigned after the company downgraded its earnings outlook for the year due to recent problems in the group’s non-staffing services business units and a weaker than expected recovery across the staffing services businesses. CEO Greg Hargrave says he takes responsibility for the company’s poor performance recently and has decided to step down from the role following a review of the company’s performance. The company says it now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around $60 to $65 million for the year to June 30, 2010 below the median analysts forecast of $71 million. As a result Skilled Group says net profit after tax is expected to come in at around $10 to $14 million and underlying net profit after tax is expected to be approximately $17 to $21 million. Shares in Skilled Group dropped 5.88% to $1.28.
Biopharmaceutical company Biota Holdings Ltd (ASX:BTA) says royalties of its Relenza flu drug are expected to fall by 70% in the March quarter. The company says UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, who markets the drug, has reported sales of $138 million for the three months to March 31, which would yield royalties of about $9.7 million, a far cry from the $32.3 million a year ago. Biota says this may signify that governments are not buying as much of the drug to treat swine flu as the threat of this flu spreading lessens. Shares in Biota Holdings plunged 16.45% to $1.60.
Turning now to market indices: All but one sector is in the red at midday, the only sector in positive territory is the Consumer Staples index, up 19 points to 7,476. Shares in Woolworths rose 0.71% to $27.02. Shares in Foster’s Group and Coca-Cola Amatil are also higher at noon.
In a sea of red the worst performing sector at midday is the Telecommunications index, down 13 points to 1,073. Shares in Telstra dropped 1.25% to $3.15, while shares in Singapore Telecommunications and Telecom of New Zealand are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is a point higher. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Heading the list is ANZ stock up 0.16% at $32 followed by; Telecom of New Zealand, Auckland Airport and Sky City Entertainment Group.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,166.40 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 92.36 US cents.
