Following weak offshore leads the Australian share market has dropped 0.5 per cent at noon. The Telco’s have fallen to the worst performer of the sectors, Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX:TLS) down more than 1 per cent after announcing an $11 billion deal with the government for the National Broadband Network.
The S&P/ASX200 index has lost 25 points and is 4,508 at noon. On the futures market the SPI is 41 points lower.
Company news
APA Group (ASX:APA) has bought the Emu Downs wind farm and a development site nearby in Western Australia for $171 million. Australia’s biggest natural gas pipeline operator has now entered into a trading halt ahead of a $300 million capital raising through an institutional placement. Shares in APA Group last traded at $4.37 before entering into a trading halt.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s (ASX:ANZ) New Zealand subsidiary has blamed difficult market conditions for delaying the launch of its first euro-denominated covered bond, according to a report in The Australian. The paper says one of the banks leading the deal says ANZ has postponed the launch as it does not want to be paying a bigger premium than they would in any other market because of the current situation in Greece. Shares in ANZ Bank are 1.29 per cent lower at noon, trading at $21.44.
Sectors
The best performing sector is Real Estate Investment Trusts, adding 3 points to 851. Shares in Westfield Retail Trust have gained 1.15 per cent and trading at $2.65. Shares in GPT Group and Westfield Group have also risen at noon. The worst performing sector is Telco Services falling 12 points to 1,026. Shares in Amcom Telecommunications have dropped 1.35 per cent and trading at $0.365. Shares in Telstra and iiNet are also lower at noon.
New Zealand
The NZSX50 is 12 point higher. Taking a look at the top four stocks by turnover, Telecom Corporation of New Zealand is at the top of the list with stock up 2.49 per cent at $2.47 followed by Fletcher Building, Westpac and Vector.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,545 an ounce and the Australian dollar is buying $US1.054 cents.
