The Australian share market closed slightly stronger today after the wait for the federal budget revealed no real surprises and strong leads from wall st saw the energy, material and industrial sectors perform favourably.
The S&P/ASX200 Index closed 54 points higher at 4,780. On the futures market, the SPI is 65 points higher.
In economic news, in the wake of the budget announcement Treasurer Wayne Swan told media today that: growing global demand for resources was driving an unprecedented investment boom; there are opportunities for Australia’s economy in Asia’s goods and services, and that by 2020, there will be more middle class consumers in Asia than in the rest of the world.
In company news, Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) has been offered more than $3.5 billion by China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Company. The acquisition would be the largest for the Chinese company since it bought Australia's Felix Resources Ltd for $3.2 billion in 2009. Shares in Whitehaven closed the day 1.36 per cent higher at $6.72.
Steel manufacturer OneSteel Limited (Public, ASX:OST) has reportedly blamed the Australian currency for a forecast $38 million fall in full-year profit. The 14 per cent profit downgrade follows weeks of controversy over the combined impact of the currency and a carbon price on the earnings of steel producers. Shares in OneSteel Limited closed down 0.5 per cent to $2.01.
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) has been caught describing imported produce as Australian grown, and will now have to change fruit and vegetable labels after the NSW food authority caught the supermarket out.
Meanwhile, BHP’s chief Marius Kloppers has warned there are risks in new mining projects to continuing investment, and his company is closely monitoring rising costs.
CBA has recorded a 13 per cent cash profit jump for the third-quarter; and David Jones has booked a 1.3 per cent drop for third quarter sales revenue, but still outperformed Myer.
Today’s best performing sector was materials with the index rising 256 to close at 13,837. The worst performing sector was consumer staples, gaining only 35 points to close at 7,860.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX200 was Beach Petroleum shares gained 6.99 per cent to close at $0.99.5. Shares in Macarthur Coal and Bow energy also closed higher today.
The worst performing stock was Extract, losing 3.9 per cent to close at $7.40. Shares in Bluescope and Seven Group also closed in the red today. In commodities, gold is trading at $US1,523 an ounce and Light crude is up 20 cents at $US104.08 a barrel.
