Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon July 25, 2014

The closing numbers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average are displayed on an electronic board at the New York Stock Exchange in New York July 2, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS)

After a quiet night of trading on overseas market, where the Dow Jones index closed 3 points weaker and the NASDAQ composite ended down 2 points - the Aussie market closed slightly lower today. At the close of trade the ASX 200 ended down 0.08% or 4.3 points to 5,583 points, the volume traded on the market were once again light as many larger investor wait out of the market ahead of the upcoming profit reporting season here in Australia and key economic data out in the state and china next week. The total shares trade today reached 2.1Billion shares for a total value of $6.012Billion. The value for shares traded today was much higher than the last few days.

Today the retail sector was held back as big name retailers Woolworths Limited (WOW) and Wesfarmers (WES) lost ground, and Warrnambool Cheese & Butte (WCB) fell 3.9% and Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) off 1.7%.

Overnight the US$ gold prices eased again off US$12 an ounce and by the close of Asian trade today the gold price had stabilised and added US$1 to US$1,295 an ounce up 0.18%. Today we saw more weakness in the precious metal sub sector today. Newcrest told the market yesterday it would post impairments charges ofbetween $1.5 to $2.5Billion for FY14 and NCM share price fell again today by 0.7% to $10.70. The US$ oil price also fell slightly in Asian trade now down US$0.03 or 0.01% to US$102.06 a barrel.

Beadell Resources (BDR) reported its quarterly numbers today, Beadell said its gold sales in the quarter were 30,483 ounces and it had produced 28,089 ounces. Beadell said the movement or rock and ore and therefore gold production was materially affected by 46% above average rainfall for the quarter. BDR share price fell 4.39% to $0.545 a share.

Kingsgate Mining (KCN) shares closed higher today, up 2.26%, after the firm reported solid fourth quarter numbers. Gold production lifted by 17% to 55,450 ounces taking KCNs FY production numbers hit the top end guidance.

GUD Holdings (GUD) today reported a fall in full-year profit, as expected by the market, Today GUD told the market its profit (Full year NPAT of $17.7Million) was hit by profit $13.3Million in restructuring and impairment costs but GUD did say they are expect the new restructure will turn the business around and improve profitability in the year ahead.

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