The Aussie sharemarket closed almost flat; debt concerns in Europe still on the radar for investors.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost almost one point to finish at 4,224. On the futures market, the SPI is seven points lower.
Company news
Mirabella Nickel Limited
(ASX:MBN) shares slid dramatically today after the company announced its report for the December period. It said its nickel production was up nine per cent from the third quarter, ore was up 18 per cent from the third quarter, and it’s targeting 20,000 to 22,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate with cash unit costs of about US$6 a pound by the end of the year. Shares in Mirabela closed 13.17 per cent lower at $1.055.
Silver Lake Resources Limited
(ASX:SLR) put in a trading halt request today, pending an announcement to the market regarding an acquisition. It will be lifted on Friday. Shares in Silver Lake last traded at $3.55.
Copper and gold miner PanAust Limited
(ASX:PNA) has forecast an increase in production of between 63,000 and 65,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate from its major operation in Laos, as well as a rise in earnings.
Despite posting a fall in production for the second quarter, Newcrest Mining Limited
(ASX:NCM) has maintained its full year guidance for operating costs and copper production. For the December quarter, Newcrest posted total gold production of 579, 073 ounces, lower than the 722, 738 ounces produced in the previous corresponding period.
The restart of Orica Limited's
(ASX:ORI) ammonia plant near Newcastle has been put on hold for several weeks, because the company's not satisfied with the performance of one of the compressors at the Kooragang Island ammonia plant and will not reopen the plant until it is performing properly.
After posting a fall in production for the full year, Oil Search Limited
(ASX:OSH) expects production in 2012 to be similar to its output from 2011. For the year to December 31, Oil Search posted total production of 6.668 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), compared with 7.657million in the previous corresponding period.
Best and worst performers
Real estate investment trusts was up six points to 811. The worst performing sector was healthcare, down 80 points, closing at 7,812.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX200 was White Energy, it rose 3.77 per cent to 55 cents. Shares in Mesoblast and Coalspur also finished up.
The worst performing stock was Mirabela as we saw earlier, followed by Billabong down 6.05 per cent and Goodman Fielder.
IPOs
Bluesky Alternative Investments listed at $1, opened at $1.05 and closed at $1.
Commodities
The price of gold is $US1,675 an ounce and Light crude is up 17 cents at $US99.75 a barrel.
