Aussie stocks have closed the session in the red today coming off earlier lows with the RBA’s surprise rate decision giving stocks a boost. The central bank today decided to leave the Official Cash Rate on hold at 4.50% but said that rate rises would be needed at some stage.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index is 18 points lower to finish at 4,607. On the futures market, the SPI200 is down 11 points.
To company news: Regulators in Canada have extended their review into BHP Billiton’s $40 billion hostile takeover offer for fertiliser giant Potash Corp. BHP launched its bid for Potash back in August but was rejected by the Canadian company who considered the offer to be inadequate. It is speculated that China’s Sinochem Group is currently mounting a counter bid to rival the miner’s offer. BHP Billiton’s shares closed 1.25% weaker at $39.50.
Engineering and construction company Clough Ltd (ASX:CLO) has been awarded a US$53 million contract to construct topsides for a liquefied natural gas condensate offloading jetty in Papua New Guinea. The contract is the second for Clough and joint venture partner BAM International awarded to them by Chiyoda JGC, engineer for the PNG LNG project. The PNG LNG project is a 6.6 million tonnes per annum operation operated by ExxonMobil, Santos, Oil Search and others. Shares in Clough closed 0.61% lower at $0.81.
Also making news: Thailand’s Banpu says it plans to delist Centennial Coal Company Ltd (ASX:CEY) from the Australian Securities Exchange if successful in its takeover of the Aussie coal miner. Banpu also extended its offer for Centennial to October 12.
Panax Geothermal Ltd (ASX:PAX) says it is optimistic that its Salamandar-1 well in South Australia, can still be developed into a production well after indicating in July that tests had not been encouraging.
Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE) says it has secured $1.1 billion worth of work during the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
And Leighton Holdings Ltd’s (ASX:LEI) 45 per cent owned Al Habtoor Leighton Group has scored a project in Abu Dhabi worth US$285 million.
In the best and worst performers: The best performing sector at close was Consumer Staples with the index up 57 points to 8,274. The worst performing sector at close was Materials with the index down 117 points to 12,547.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Lynas Corp shares were 7.63% higher at $1.41. Shares in St Barbara and Abacus Property Group also closed higher.
The worst performing stock was Murchison Metals shares dropped 4.91% to $1.55. Shares in Mirabela Nickel and iSOFT Group also closed weaker today.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1317 US an ounce. And light crude is up $0.05 at $81.52 US a barrel.
