Aussie shares are lower at midday following falls in overseas markets at the end of last week. A decline in consumer sentiment cautioned investors on Wall Street and heightened concern among local investors for the state of the global economy and its recovery. The S&P/ASX200 index is down 68 points at 4,355 and on the futures market, the SPI200 is down 75.
In economic news: According to data released by the ABS, Australia’s international merchandise imports for June came to $18.41 billion up by $4 million on the month before. To company news: Aquarius Platinum Ltd (ASX:AQP) says it will formally appeal new South African regulations to improve safety conditions in the country’s platinum mines. The Australian reports that the move comes after five Aquarius miners were killed by a falling rock at the company’s Marikana site, spurring the government to improve safety conditions. The company says it has employed an international mining consultant who agrees with the company’s South African management that the new regulations will not give rise to a safer mining environment in respect to ‘fall of ground’ accidents. Aquarius also says that the directive will have a detrimental economic effect. Shares in Aquarius Platinum are down 24.52% at $3.97.
Engineering and project management group Ausenco Ltd (ASX:AAX) has won a C$814 million contract to provide services to the Prosperity gold-copper project in British Columbia, Canada. The company says they will initially provide engineering design and procurement services for Taseko Mines Ltd, with involvement ramping up as key project milestones are met. The Prosperity Project hosts a gold-copper deposit with proven and probable reserves of 831 million tonnes, containing 3.6 billion pounds of recoverable copper and 7.7 million ounces of recoverable gold. Shares in Ausenco are flat at $2.09.
Turning now to market indices: Most indices are in the red at midday. The best performing index is the Health Care sector, up 18 points to 8,128. Shares in Healthscope are 10.19% higher at $5.95. Shares in ResMed and Mesoblast are also higher at noon.
The worst performing index is the Energy sector, down 283 points to 14,383. Shares in Riversdale Mining dropped 5.2% to $9.67. Shares in Aquila Resources and AWE are also lower at noon.
To New Zealand now and the NZSX50 is down 16 points. Taking a look at the top 4 stocks by turnover: Telecom of New Zealand heads the list with stock up 0.53% at $1.90 followed by; ANZ, Telstra and Westpac Banking Corporation.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at US$1,193.25 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 86.52 US cents.
