Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon October 21, 2013

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 faded this afternoon to end a touch lower for the first time in six days. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell by 0.1 per cent following the 0.9 per cent improvement on Monday. Better than expected Chinese economic news initially boosted markets and currencies at 1pm AEDT.

 China's economy expanded by a slightly better than forecast 7.3 per cent in the September quarter while industrial production jumped by a better 8 per cent y/y (Year on Year). Retail spending fell a little short of consensus; rising by 11.6 per cent y/y.

 Fortescue Metals (FMG) surged by 2.6 per cent with the heavily shorted iron ore miner taking the gains so far this week to 3.2 per cent.

 BHP Billiton (BHP) fell by 0.25 per cent ahead of its quarterly production report scheduled for release tomorrow and its annual meeting with investors on Thursday. Gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) finished 0.3 per cent softer with a 12 per cent fall in quarterly production and no change to full year guidance leaving investors unimpressed. NCM shares have slumped by 7.3 per cent this month however are still up 25 per cent since 1 January.

 Qantas (QAN) rose by 1.5 per cent following reports around 1500 aircraft engineers agreed to a new four-year deal with the flagship airline including an 18-month pay freeze.

 Volume remained quite light with 2.01bn shares traded worth $4.09bn. 443 stocks are up, 460 are down and 387 are unchanged.

 The Australian dollar gained ground against the greenback following

 The Reserve Bank board minutes provided few changes to the central bank's tone with rates likely to remain on hold for a while longer. Tomorrow's quarterly CPI (inflation) out tomorrow will be important for the RBA.

 Tonight around 120 US companies are releasing their quarterly profit results. E*Trade, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Yahoo! and Harley Davidson are some of the more well-recognised names issuing earnings. A report on home sales across the US will also be released for September. A slight improvement in existing home sales is expected.

 Tomorrow quarterly CPI (consumer inflation) is out for the September quarter at 11.30am AEDT. Modest inflation is expected only. BHP will be releasing its quarterly production numbers. Origin Energy and Super Retail Group both will be holding their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) with investors.

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