Australian Stock Market Report

LUNCHTIME REPORT
(12.30pm AEST)

The Australian share market opened 30 points lower after the Easter break. Last Thursday, the 5th of April, the market ended slightly lower with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.4 pct to 4,402. Over the Easter holiday break U.S. non-farm payroll numbers, key monthly job data, came in weaker than expected and concerns about inflation in China saw Asian and U.S. markets fall and today our market has followed their lead.

At lunchtime, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) was down 30 points to 4,371 points.

All market sectors have fallen, with the biggest slides occurring in the S&P/ASX 200 HealthCare sector off 1.8 pct and the S&P/ASX 200 Energy sector down 1.65 pct.

Energy stocks have been hit hard by the fall in the oil price over the Easter period with the US oil prices falling over US$4.00 a barrel in the last week, now at US$102.40 a barrel. Shares in Woodside Petroleum Limited, one of Australia's largest oil and gas producers, fell 2.1pct to $34.45, even with the news out today that Woodside has now been able to update the market on its proposed $30 billion Browse Basin liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia. Woodside has pushed out its delivery date on the project from mid-2012 to the first quarter 2013 and rival Santos Limited (STO) off 1.6pct to $ 13.97 and explorer Oil Search Limited (OSH) off over 2pct.

Mining stocks also in the red even with base metals prices rising on the last day of trade before Easter on the London Metals Exchange (LME). Unfortunately the negativity surrounding the higher than expected Chinese inflation (CPI) number has added to concerns over Chinese raw mineral demand and this has pushed our key miners lower. Rio Tinto (RIO) weaker by 2.1pct to $65.03.miners have struggled this week, with BHP Billiton (BHP) down 0.86 pct or 30 cents to $34.44 while Rio Tinto (RIO) dropped 1.66 pct or $1.10 to $65.29 today. Meanwhile the gold prices continued to climb higher in U.S. trade and this helped Newcrest Mining Limited (NCM) buck the trend and add 1.6 pct to $28.50 and Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (KCN) lift 1.5 pct to $6.01.

Today there has been a lot of movement in the media sector with the announcement that the Australian Regulator, the (ACCC) Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after nearly one year of debate allowed Foxtel´s $1.9Billion takeover of pay television company Austar United Communications Limited. (AUN). The ACCC has accepted Foxtel's draft undertakings saying it won´t oppose the takeover after Foxtel provided "court-enforceable" undertakings that will prevent it from acquiring exclusive internet protocol television rights for a range of programs and movie content. Foxtel is 50 pct owned by Telstra Corporation (TLS) and Telstra share price was flat at $3.35. While 25 pct owners Consolidated Media Holdings Limited (CMJ) also unchanged at $3.05 and News Corporation Limited (NWS) fell 2.25 pct to $18.67, while Austar was up 2.36 pct to $1.51.

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (VAH) today agreed to invest $8million in regional airline operator Skywest Airlines Limited (SXR). This deal will help Virgin lift its exposure to Australia´s fly in fly out mining industry. The Western Australian carrier, Skywest, already has headquarters and landing agreements in place in regional areas and is looking to grow its business in the Queensland mining regions. Virgin off 1.2 pct to $0.41.5 and
Skywest share price climbed9.86 pct to $0.39.

Our major banks lost ground in early trade, with National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) off 0.6 pct to $24.63 and Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) was down 0.5 pct while Commonwealth Bank (CBA) fell slightly to $50.01.

The Australian dollar (AUD) buys US103.33 cents and €78.65 cents.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]