Campbell Brothers Limited

The Australian shares Tuesday posted losses for the sixth consecutive day as Asian markets were widely lower. Chinese market dropped more than 4 per cent due to a massive sell-off after the Agricultural Bank of China offered a lower-than-expected price in its Shanghai tranche IPO. Investors feared that this could be a signal of slow-down in fresh investment into Chinese equities.

Campbell Brothers (ASX:CPB) expects underlying net profit after tax for the half year ending 30th September 2010 will be within the range of A$63 million to A$68 million as it sees continued strong demand for its mineral, environmental and coal analytical services.

Benitec Limited (ASX:BLT) (PINK:BNIKF) announced today that Ms Sue MacLeman will step down from the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director to pursue other opportunities. She has agreed however to stay actively involved with Benitec as a Strategic Advisor at this exciting time for the Company. A transition arrangement has been put in place. Mr Mel Bridges and Dr John Chiplin will both move to Executive Director roles within the Company and the Board will be further strengthened in the coming months.

Overnight the Dow index and S&P's 500 index posted their biggest falls in three months as the worse-than-expected manufacturing activity data in September and new jobless claims led to a broad sell-off. These figures overshadowed improvements in pending home sales, personal spending and construction spending, and dampened investors confidence on the economy recovery.

Overnight the US stocks slid over disappointing data in regional economy, as well as worries on the crucial data ahead including personal income, consumer spending, weekly jobless claims, manufacturing and home sales.