Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 11/1/2012

MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEDT)

The local share market is giving back yesterday's gains, with falls in energy, mining and financial stocks contributing to the sell-down. Overnight, Wall Street resumed trade for the first time since Friday night, with the Dow Jones Index finishing modestly lower. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 32.3pts or 0.7pct to 4503.1.

Energy, mining and financial stocks are all giving back, despite generally positive movement on the commodity front overnight. The US Nymex crude contract rose overnight by US56c or 0.7pct to US$86.24 a barrel. Shares in Caltex (CTX) are firmer, but Santos (STO) is down 1.2pct to $11.37 and Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is off 1.3pct to $33.97.

A large parcel of Ten Network (TEN) shares, worth $30.2 million or 10pct of the company, changed hands this morning. It's not known who bought or sold the 117.2 million shares. TEN has also agreed to a sale price for its outdoor advertising business EyeCorp. Private equity firm Champ will pay $113 million for the business, with TEN to use the proceeds to pay down debt. TEN shares are lower by almost 2pct to $0.275 in early trade.

The company formerly known as OneSteel, Arrium Limited (ARI), has fallen by 11pct in early trade to $0.6975c, after a consortium of steel makers walked away from its $1.19 billion to buy the company after Arrium labelled the bid as too low yesterday.

Transfield Services (TSE) has appointed interim chief Graeme Hunt to the role permanently. TSE shares are up 1pct to $1.605.

Fashion retailer Noni B (NBL) has told shareholders at its AGM that tough retail conditions continue, and it will remain with its current strategy of substantial discounting. NBL shares are up 0.6pct to $0.845.

The Australian dollar remains strong across the board and at 12.10pm AEDT is worth US103.76c, €80.03c and £0.6433.

So far, 892 million shares have changed hands, worth $1.65 billion.

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