Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 11/2/2012

AFTERNOON REPORT
(5pm AEDT)

Despite a positive start, local stocks ended Friday's session only modestly higher, as investors pared back ahead of a key US jobs report being released tonight and next week's local interest rate decision. After hitting 4507 points in early trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the session only 3.4pts higher at 4483.3, a gain of 0.1pct. Over the course of the trading week, the XAO lost 0.3pct during extraordinary circumstances where Hurricane Sandy caused the New York Stock Exchange to be closed for two straight sessions.

Financial stocks were sold off today which contributed to the flatter finish. Shares in the ANZ (ANZ) lost 0.7pct to $25.15 while Macquarie Group (MQG) closed lower by 2.7pct to $30.66.

Mining players fared better following some strong gains on the London Metals Exchange overnight. BHP Billiton (BHP) added 1.8pct to $34.42 while Rio Tinto (RIO) was up 2pct to $57.38 and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) gained 0.5pct to $4.01.

Qantas (QAN) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today with CEO Alan Joyce telling shareholders this past year has been a challenging but pivotal one. "We are now turning our attention to paying down debt ... mindful of the current economic environment," Mr Joyce said. QAN shares closed higher by 0.4pct to $1.295.

The Ten Network (TEN) today confirmed financial services group Perpetual (PPT) is no longer a major shareholder of its company. A large parcel of shares worth $30.2 million was sold in early trade yesterday, with many speculating Perpetual was selling out of the troubled network. Meanwhile TEN has started announcing redundancies in its newsrooms as part of cost cutting measures after announcing a $13 million full year loss. TEN shares today added 9.3pct to $0.295 while PPT added 5.5pct to $28.20.

Bluescope Steel (BSL) shares added 2.1pct to $0.48 after announcing it will raise US$300 million to help pay off debt by issuing senior unsecured notes to institutional investors. The notes will be offered by its subsidiaries BlueScope Steel (Finance) Ltd and BlueScope Steel Finance (USA) LLC.

Telstra (TLS) shares today closed steady at $4.09.

The Australian dollar hit a one month high of US104.1c during today's trade, €80.41 and £0.6454.

On the market overall, a total of 1.75 billion shares were traded, worth $4.76 billion. 524 were up, 445 were down and 342 were unchanged.

At 4.30pm the SFE Futures market was at 4444, up 8pts.

Ahead tonight, non-farm payrolls and factory orders are released in the US. Unemployment is tipped to come in at 7.9pct.

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