Sydney, Sep 11, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Australian market has received a mixed lead, with Wall Street up while oil, gold and silver were down again. Yesterday local banks finished mixed despite heavy losses on Wall Street as the US investment bank Lehman was thought facing difficulties. Analysts said the market was volatile, heavy and irrational.
The Australian share market fell sharply again yesterday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropping 74.6 points, or 1.5%, to 4905.46, while the broader All Ordinaries gave up 80.46 points, or 1.6%, to 4961.44.
This morning at 6.30am, the Sydney Futures Exchange's September Share Price Index contract was up 15 points, or 0.31% to 4928.
Today the Australian dollar opened lower as a stronger US dollar and softer commodity prices dragged the currency down towards $US0.8000. At 7am, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.7994/98, down from yesterday's close of $US0.8075/79. At 7.46am, it dropped to $US0.7968/7973.
Crude oil for October delivery dropped to a five-month low at $US101.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight, but settled down $US0.68 at $US102.58 a barrel. OPEC decided to cut oil production in what was interpreted as an attempt to maintain the price of crude oil above $US100 a barrel.
Key Economic Facts and Figures
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release labour force data for August. Economists expect the figures from ABS to reveal only a small rise in employment, something around 5000 (0.05%) or so.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index climbed 7%, or 6 points, to 92.2 in September, on top of a 9.1% rise in August. The index remained 20.3% lower than in September last year. The total 16.7% rise was the third largest in the last decade and the sixth largest since the survey began in the mid 1970s.
Westpac and the Melbourne Institute will release their index of consumer inflation expectations.
M&A News
Macmahon (ASX:MAH) said yesterday it would not extend its takeover offer beyond September 29 and admitted it could struggle to win majority control. The all-scrip offer of 1.6 Macmahon shares for each Ausdrill (ASX:ASL) share, which valued the target at A$3 at yesterday's close, has been running for over three months and has cost Ausdrill at least A$380,000 in defence costs.
Nexus Energy (ASX:NXS) has agreed to the $US309 million ($383 million) sale of 25 per cent its offshore Crux oil project in Western Australia to a Japanese energy company, to provide greater funding certainty amid the global credit freeze. Nexus described the buyer only as "a substantial and financially capable international energy company". The buyer is understood to be either Itochu, Sojitz or Mitsui, which have investments or agreements in Australia.
Midwest Corp. (ASX:MIS) said Wednesday that it has appointed two senior employees of Sinosteel Corp. as directors after the Chinese steel maker secured control of the company. David Law, Stephen De Belle and Roger Tan have resigned from the board, also effective Wednesday. Law has been a substantial shareholder in Midwest since its restructure in 2003, and currently holds a 13% stake. Midwest didn't say if the retiring directors would be accepting the takeover offer from Sinosteel, which currently holds a 60.5% stake in the company.
The board of Incremental Petroleum (ASX:IPM) has urged shareholders to "take no action" in response to an offer from Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE), which it described as "highly conditional, unsolicited and opportunistic". Oil producer Cooper launched a A$104 million bid for Incremental on Tuesday, in what was seen as the latest round of consolidation for Australia's junior oil sector.
Important Corporate News
Seven Network (ASX:SEV) shareholders have approved a A$320 million share buyback, a move that could boost chairman Kerry Stokes's voting power to over 50 per cent. At an extraordinary general meeting held today in Sydney, more than 98 per cent of votes were cast in favour of the buyback of up to 40 million shares, representing 19.4 per cent of the company.
Engineering and property services company United Group Ltd (ASX:UGL) has entered into an alliance on a Canadian power project worth about A$800 million. UGL Infrastructure and partner Balfour Beatty will carry out about C$700 million in works for Canadian utility ATCO Electric as it upgrades a high-voltage transmission system including lines and substations in Alberta, a western Canadian province.
Contact
Michelle Liang
Asia Busines News Asia Bureau
TEL: +61-2-9247-4344
EMAIL: michelle.liang@abnnewswire.net
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