Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 11/14/13

AFTERNOON REPORT
(5pm AEDT)

The Australian share market staged a rebound today, boosted by another record high on Wall Street and after incoming US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave dovish commentary which investors took as a signal the current US economic stimulus plan would continue.

The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 34.5pts or 0.7 per cent to 5352, trimming the weekly loss so far to 0.8 per cent.

There was a lot of company news around with many AGMs being held.

Building products maker James Hardie (JHX) was a stand-out, rising almost 15 per cent to a record high of $12 after its first half profit more than doubled to US$194.1million thanks to a rebound in the US housing market. The company will pay a dividend of 8 US cents per share.

The battle for cheese maker Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory (WCB) continues with Bega Cheese (BGA) today lifting its offer for the company, although the bid remains below a $9 per share offer made yesterday by Murray Goulburn. BGA will offer 1.5 of its own shares plus $2 cash for every WCB share in a bid which values the company at around $8.87. A Canadian company has also offered $8 per share. WCB shares closed steady at $9.10 today while BGA came off by almost 3 per cent to $4.45.

In afternoon trade, it was revealed that the electronic retailer Dick Smith would list on the share market in December in a float expected to raise $344.5 million. Private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners bought the company from Woolworths (WOW) last year for $20 million. WOW today closed steady at $33.90.

On the market overall, a total of 2 billion shares changed hands, worth $4.7 billion. 540 were up, 387 were down and 391 were unchanged.

The Australian dollar ended the day's trade at US93.5c, after reaching a high of US93.87c.

Ahead tonight, trade balance data is released in the US.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]