Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 3-28-13

AFTERNOON REPORT
(5pm AEDT)

Local stocks fell back into the red today, as concerns about Cyprus once again affected global sentiment. Banks in Cyprus will re-open tonight for the first time since the controversial bank bailout was floated, with investors concerned there could be a run on bank deposits.

Locally, the All Ords closed lower by 0.5% and was flat over the course of the week.

In company news, Newcrest Mining Ltd (NCM) today downgraded its annual guidance by around 10% after facing problems in its Papua New Guinea and Indonesia mines. NCM said a maintenance issue with one of the old parts of Lihir plant in PNG requires maintenance reducing production for five to seven weeks. NCM shares today fell to their lowest level since November 2008, down 8.3% $20.05.

Meanwhile, global crop protection company Nufarm (NUF) today delivered its 1H result, posting a 53% fall in profit to $8.4 million, and slashing its full year outlook. NUF shares dropped 17% to $3.95.

Construction giant Leighton Holdings (LEI) has sold its telco assets to Canada's Ontario teachers' Pension Plan for $620M. LEI shares today were down 0.4% to $20.54.

Economic data released today revealed private sector credit rose by 0.2% in February to be up 3.4% over the year.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, job vacancies fell by 10.1 per cent in the three months to February to a seven year low of 149,300.

The December quarter Financial Accounts show that household financial assets rose by 2.4 per cent in the quarter while liabilities only rose by 0.8 per cent.

The Australian dollar ended the day's trade at US104.27c, £0.6888 and €81.52c.

On the market overall, a total of 2 billion shares were traded, worth $8.16 billion. 426 shares were up, 512 were down and 377 were unchanged.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]