Australian Stock Market Report –Afternoon July 15, 2014

End of day Report (4.40pm AEST)

The Australian market struggled to hold on to early gains as the banks and mining stocks came under heavy selling. The All Ordinaries Index added 12points at the start of trade then by lunchtime the market had fallen into the red. But in the last 20 minutes of trade today the markets regained ground and finished only 1 point weaker.
Our market basically pushed aside the gains from the US markets and the excitement from the better than expected result from Citi Group throughout the day.

After a solid start most sectors fell into the red, there was no real trigger for the selloff in banking stocks early in the day and the late day recovery in the National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) share price. Our largest listing food and beverage retailer's finished slightly higher after a tough day. As expected gold and other precious metal stocks continued to slide.

In the last 24hours the US$ gold price fell over US$30 an ounce, we did see US$10 an ounce of the fall in our trading zone yesterday but since then the slide continued. The gold price lost ground on reduced economic & geopolitical risks and the news that the Indian Government indicated it will retain its 10% tax on gold & silver imports.
Since the start of trade today the gold price has stabilised at $1,308/oz.

In Company news -
OZ Minerals (OZL) released its 2Q14 production numbers this morning that were better than expected. OZL also upped its guidance for FY14 to 85-90,000/t from its previous level of 75-80,000/t. The OZL share price fell 0.23% at the close to $4.30.

PanAust (PNA) also reported its quarterly numbers today, they were largely in line and the company said it expects its copper and gold production for FY14 is now expected to hit the upper end of its prior guidance level. PNA closed up 1.8% higher to $2.19 after falling 4.4% yesterday.

Whitehaven Coal (WHC) released its FY14 coal results today, coal sales were up nearly 22% to 10.84Million/tonnes above market expectations. But WHC did warn investors that it expects the coal markets to be in oversupply over the next 6months. Despite the warning the WHC share price lifted by 5.08% to $1.55. Other coal stocks also did well in a down market, New Hope Corporation Limited and Energy Resources of Australia Limited (ERA) both higher.

In the retail sector both Woolworths Limited (WOW) and Wesfarmers Limited (WES) both finished a few cents higher. Myer Holdings Limited (MYR) today announced that current independent non-executive director, Mr Peter Hay, will resign from the company effective Monday 14 July 2014. MYR share price fell slightly into the close off 1.3% to $2.27.

Mixed mineral miner, Cape Lambert Resources (CFE) was one of the best performing stocks on the market today up over 45% to $0.11, after reporting that it will receive a $51.6Million settlement payment from its magnetite mine access dispute.

In Economic News
Minutes of Reserve Bank of Australia monthly board meeting have been released.
RBA Board Minutes showed that there has a subtle change in the wording Reserve Bank Board minutes. In
June, the minutes noted that the "current accommodative stance of policy was likely to be appropriate for
sometime yet." At the July meeting the minutes noted: "the most prudent course was likely to be a period
of stability in interest rates." So the reaction to the news today on the markets was muted.

New car sales rose by 1.7% in June. Sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) or four-wheel drive vehicles (4WD) rose by 0.2% to record highs. Near record result: In original terms, 118,309 new vehicles were sold in June, the second highest result behind June 2013 when 118,758 vehicles were sold.

Tonight in the US - Fed Chair Yellen delivers her semi-annual testimony to Congress and we also will receive US retail sales for June. Tomorrow all eyes will be on the Chinese GDP - Growth numbers for the June quarter, we expect the Chinese economy would have expanded by 7.4% over the year.

The Aussie dollar is now holding at 9376, down slightly from the start of trade today.