The Australian share market followed broadly lower Wall Street leads to slip at open and is 0.2 per cent down at noon, with gains in materials stocks helping to peg back some of the early losses. A fall in jobs vacancies in the three months to August has failed to spur investor sentiment, while the Aussie dollar is trading little changed as investors await clarity on the US debt ceiling.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 10 points down at 5,266. On the futures market the SPI is 9 points lower.
Economic news
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its job vacancies data for the August quarter, noting a 3.7 per cent fall, driven by a 4.1 per cent drop in private sector vacancies. The total number of job vacancies fell to 137,900.
Company news
Whitehaven Coal Limited
(ASX:WHC) says the Federal Court has dismissed an application from an environment group seeking to prevent the coal miner from commencing work on its Maules Creek project in New South Wales. The company says Northern Inland Council for the Environment sought a halt to construction works at the mine before judgment was handed down in a separate case challenging the validity of the mine’s approval. CEO Paul Flynn says coal production remains on target for the first quarter of the 2015 calendar year. Shares in Whitehaven Coal are trading up 0.25 per cent at $2.02.
Lend Lease Group
(ASX:LLC) has taken out the number one spot in the Housing Industry Association- Cordell Construction 100 survey after securing $2.4 billion worth of contracts in the 2013 financial year. The survey found that Australia’s largest 100 construction contractors and non-residential builders won contracts to the value of $35.8 billion in the year, comprising 26 per cent of total construction work commenced.
Shares in Lend Lease are trading down 0.69 per cent at $10.14.
Best and worst performers The best performing sector is Materials gaining 48 points to 9,854. Shares in Adelaide Brighton Limited
(ASX:ABC) have risen 2.53 per cent and trading at $3.65. Shares in Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO) and Arrium Limited
(ASX:ARI) are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is Healthcare, falling 80 points to 13,677. Shares in CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) have fallen 1.10 per cent, trading at $64.59. Shares in Cochlear Limited
(ASX:COH) and Acrux Limited
(ASX:ACR) are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,333 an ounce and the Australian dollar is buying $US0.9368.
