Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 6/6/13

AFTERNOON REPORT

(5pm AEST)

The Australian dollar ended the day's trade in the red for the third session this week. Local stocks are now holding at levels not seen since January.

The Australian dollar closed below US95c for the first time since October 2011. Ongoing speculation the US Federal Reserve may wind back its bond buying program, coupled with speculation the Reserve Bank of Australia could deliver another interest rate cut is keeping downward pressure on the Australian dollar.

In company news, shares in Fairfax (FXJ) fell 1.7 per cent to 59c after warning of further revenue falls. FXJ also promised deeper costs savings after revealing it will launch metered paywalls on its major metropolitan news sites within a month. Paywalls for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will be introduced on July 2. CEO Greg Hywood said trading conditions remain "pretty tough" and the company expects earnings before tax to come in at $29-$135M for the second half. A restructure, including the shedding of 1900 jobs, is expected to save FXJ a further $60M by September.

Shares in Air New Zealand (AIZ) rose 2.1 per cent to $1.235 as the company increased its stake in Virgin Australia (VAH) to 22.99 per cent. VAH closed down 3.3 per cent to 44.5c.

Australia's trade surplus narrowed in April, according to data released today. The trade surplus narrowed from $555 million to $28 million in April. The early timing of Easter would have affected the result.

On the market overall, a total of 1.6 billion shares were traded, worth $5.5 billion. 279 were up, 661 were down and 367 were unchanged.

At 5pm AEST the SFE 200 Futures market was at 4783, down 48pts.

The Dow Futures Index was at 14983, up 24pts.

Ahead tonight, weekly jobless claims data and the Challenger job layoffs series are released in the US.

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