Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon November 11, 2014

Asian stock market — Pedestrians look at an electronic board showing the stock market indices of various countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo June 25, 2014. Asian shares were on the back foot early on Wednesday, taking their cue from Wall Street as the deepening crisis in Iraq and a report that the U.S. could be loosening restrictions on crude exports triggered a rally in oil prices. REUTERS/Yuya Shino (JAPAN - Tags: BUSINESS)

 Australian shares ended in the red for the second day with the ASX 200 slipping by 0.1 per cent. Despite losses of 0.5 per cent so far this week the ASX 200 still remains above the key 5500 pt level.

 US stocks closed at record highs overnight although the moves higher were modest. A lack of major economic news or corporate events failed to inspire investors in global trade.

 Mining stocks were the main drag locally with the price of oil and gold losing ground overnight. Losses from BHP Billiton (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), Fortescue Metals (FMG) and Newcrest Mining (NCM) wiped out 9pts from the ASX 200 today.

 Explosives and fertiliser company Incitec Pivot (IPL) jumped by 5.5 per cent despite posting a 33 per cent slump in annual profit to $247.1m (12 months to 30 September). The slide in earnings was largely driven by hefty write-downs totalling $109.2m across offshore units in Turkey, China and the US. Once removing one-offs, profit rose by 21 per cent to $356.3m while sales eased by 2 per cent.

 Recall Holdings (REC) held its Annual General Meeting with investors today. REC split from Brambles in December 2013 and is involved with document storage and data protection. The information management company is committed to three objectives 1. Sustainable profit growth, 2. Operational excellence - which includes cost cuts and 3. Innovation for the future - digital strategy is a key focus.

 Banks finished mixed with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Westpac (WBC) both improving by around 0.5 per cent. While National Bank (NAB) and ANZ eased slightly. Three of the four major banks have all traded ex-dividend since last Friday which means purchasing shares in NAB, WBC and ANZ will no longer make you eligible to receive their December dividends.

 Volume was average with 1.5bn shares traded worth $4.5bn. 425 stocks rose, 488 fell and 380 finished unchanged.

 The Australian dollar buys US$0.862, €0.694, £0.544 and ¥99.3.

 Holidays in a number of global economies tonight could keep volumes a little quiet. Bond markets will be closed in the US to observe Veteran's Day. Although equity markets should trade normally, both Canada and France have bank holidays tonight.

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