Australian Stock Market Report –Afternoon November 26, 2014

IN PHOTO: A metal sculpture depicting a stock exchange chart is seen in the reception hall of the Athens Bourse in Athens September 11, 2014. Greece on Thursday set the pricing on its offer to top up its recent three- and five-year bonds by about 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) and exchange them for outstanding T-bills instead of cash. Reuters/Yorgos Karahalis

 Australian shares made up for yesterday's modest 0.5 per cent tumble in full with the ASX 200 surging at the close to end 1.1 firmer. It continues to be a volatile affair for local stocks this week with shares up 1.1 per cent on Monday prior to Tuesday's falls.

 Global markets finished mixed overnight with US shares ending a few points lower while European stocks edged higher. Data showed that the US economy is growing at a faster than expected pace while Europe's largest economy Germany is treading water.

 Miners continued to be big movers with resource stocks defying a slump in commodity prices to rise by close to 1 per cent. The price of iron ore fell by 2 per cent overnight to US$68.6/tonne while oil slipped by 2.2 per cent. The price of ore (Australia's biggest export) has essentially halved in value this calendar year. BHP Billiton (BHP) rose by 1.4 per cent while RIO was up 1.7 per cent.

 Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) shares were placed in a trading halt at the request of the company. The $450m iron ore player is facing delays in the repair of its Koolan Island mine in the Kimberley region of WA.

 Webjet (WEB) fell by 1.3% and held its annual general meeting (AGM) with investors today. The online travel company said it expects FY15 EBITDA of around $27m. In July WEB agreed to buy European online hotel provider SunHotels for €21m (~A$30m) to expand its presence across the EU. This comes a year after paying $25m for the acquisition of Asia focused online travel business Zuji.

 Cabcharge (CAB) rose by 2.3% today and held its AGM. The taxi payment company has expressed its concerns with ride sharing service Uber. CAB Chief Executive Russell Balding said that "Uber is dangerous, unsupervised and illegal" and has urged the government to intervene. CAB is reliant on a thriving and regulated taxi industry.

 Medibank (MPL) fell by 1.9 per cent after its 7 per cent improvement on debut yesterday. Evolution Mining (EVN) surged by 9 per cent today and expects to produce between 400-440,000 ounces of gold over the full year. All-In-Sustainable Costs fall between $1,050 and $1,130 per ounce.

 Volume was light with 1.7bn shares traded worth $4.6bn. 545 stocks rose, 364 lost ground and 348 finished flat. The Australian dollar is trading at US$0.855; a little firmer from the US$0.851 July 2010 low hit overnight. On the economic front quarterly construction work done fell by 2.2 per cent in the Sept quarter.

 Tonight a report on the number of durable goods orders placed with manufacturers in October will be a highlight in the US. Durable goods are more substantial products infrequently purchased and with a life span of more than three years.

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