MARKETS

Rio Tinto strenghten's hold on Riversdale

Australia's Rio Tinto Mining Ltd has strengthened its bid obtaining 49.49 percent of all the shares of Riversdale Mining Limited (Riversdale), the company announced late Wednesday.

Manufacturing fell in March on strong exchange rate

The strong Australian dollar together with weak domestic demand, rising overseas competition and the increasing cost of raw materials pushed the manufacturing sector back into the red in March according to the latest Australian Industry Group - PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI). The seasonally adjusted index fell 3.2 points to 47.9 bringing it below the 50 points level separating expansion from contraction.

Australian Dollar Outlook 4/7/2011

The Australian Dollar has pushed to another post-float high above 1.0400 with the US Dollar sold right across the board and commodity prices surging.
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Daily Forex Forecast 04/07/2011

The Australian dollar opens this morning at a rate of 1.0435 against the greenback after hitting a fresh post-float high of 1.0450 in offshore trade.

Rudi's View: Your Feedback (Thank You)

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArena ****Hi Rudi, Greg and the team,I depend on the sensible, accurate and unbiased guidance and analysis that I get from FNArena to make my decisions.

More Upside In Store For Norfolk

- Norfolk has guided to solid full year results and stockbroker Moelis anticipates further earnings growth in FY12- No debt means growth options can be pursued- Moelis rates Norfolk a BuyBy Chris ShawServices provider Norfolk Group ((NFK)) is not due to report full year earnings until late May, but ...

Core Fed Incompetency

Core IncompetencyGuest commentary by Michael Pento, Euro Pacific Capital,For years the Federal Reserve has told us that in order to detect inflation in the economy it is important to separate "signal from noise" by focusing on "core" inflation statistics, which exclude changes in food and energy pri...

Australian Dollar Outlook 4/6/2011

The Australian Dollar has eased off recent highs overnight, dipping below USD 1.0300, as equity markets reacted to the China Central Bank’s announcement to raise interest rates by 0.25%.

Oil Price Likely To Remain High

- Libyan sweet crude oil production is unlikely to return to pre-war levels anytime soon- As the world struggles for alternatives, the price for gasoline is likely to remain high- Global shortage in sweet crude to coincide with seasonal uptick in demandWhy the Resumption of Libyan Oil Shipments Won&...

The Overnight Report: Gold Hits A New High

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 6 points while the S&P was steady at 1332 and the Nasdaq added 0.1%.March purchasing managers' indices from the service sector were the focus around the globe yesterday.

The Economy: RBA Sits On Rates Again

As expected, the Reserve Bank left its cash rate on hold yesterday at 4.75%, and didn't really tell us any more about the health of the economy than we already knew.In fact yesterday's trade figures (a surprise deficit in February, thanks to a big rise in oil imports) and solid car sales for March, told us a bit more about where the economy is than did the post board meeting statement wh...

RBA Becoming A Parrot

By Greg Peel“The recent disaster in Japan will have a noticeable effect on Japanese production in the near term, although the impact on the broader Asian region is expected to be limited”.That was it – that was the RBA's entire summation of the world events occurring between the release of the previous monetary policy statement on March 1 and today's release, and their impact on ...

No Joy For Service Providers In Australia

- Australian services sector conditions remain tough- AIG-CBA PSI fell 2.2 points in March- Reading shows consumers remain cautious on outlookBy Chris ShawTimes remain tough for the Australian services sector, the March reading of the Australian Industry Group – Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI) showing a decline of 2.2 points to 46.5. Any reading be...

Uranium Fears Overblown?

By Greg PeelAs at the end of March, industry consultant TradeTech's spot uranium price indicator sat at US$58.50/lb, down US$1.50 from the previous week and down US$11.00 from end-February. The big drop reflects the panic surrounding the disaster at Fukushima and its potential longer term impact on uranium demand.In the thinly traded spot market, panic selling has been driven by speculators caught...

Australian Dollar Outlook 4/5/2011

Stock markets were fairly quiet overnight despite more M&A activity. The AUD/USD remains just under the 1.0400 level this morning as the market awaits comments from the RBA’s meeting this afternoon.

The Overnight Report: Oil Cracks 120

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 23 points or 0.2% while the S&P was steady at 1332 and the Nasdaq was also steady.Volume on Wall Street was very light last night but it is noteworthy the Dow's close at 12,400 means the first close above the February high of 12,391. The S&P 500 is meeting technical resistance at 1333, being the 100% move up from the March 2009 bottom, and is still short of its Februa...

Management: Woolies Changes CEOs

Coles Group's fierce price cutting counter attack in the past year seems to have resulted in Woolworths' CEO Michael Luscombe retiring.The news, which didn't come as a surprise to the market with the change tipped in two media reports yesterday, was conveyed in a statement to the ASX.Mr Lucombe will retire at the end of September after five years as CEO and will be replaced by Grant...

The Economy: Job Ads Solid, Especially On The Net

Another strong month for job ads according to the ANZ's survey for March, but the reality is that it was a solid month for jobs advertised on the net.Newspaper ads were soft, rising 0.2% and continuing the less than solid trend seen for most of the past couple of years.Internet job ads rose 1.4% in March and were the main driver behind the 1.3% overall rise in job ads to 195,913.That was up f...

Updates: Wesfarmers Win Big Coal Price Rise

Wesfarmers' resources division has won a 53% price rise for its coking coal exports for the June quarter.The company told the ASX yesterday that the price for the June quarter will be $US328 a tonne, compared to the $US221 a tonne for the previous quarter.Wesfarmers said that "weighted average US$FOB for new contract prices of Curragh metallurgical coal (hard coking, semi-hard coking and PCI)...

QIAGEN to acquire Australian diagnostics company Cellestis

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) has reached an agreement to acquire Cellestis Ltd (CST: AU) for approximately A$341 million (US$355 million) in cash, providing QIAGEN with access to a novel"pre-molecular" technology that offers a new dimension in disease detection not currently possible with other diagnostic methods.

The New Global LNG Dynamic

(This story was originally published on March 25, 2011. It has now been re-published to make it in full available to non-paying members at FNArena and to readers elsewhere).- Japan has an immediate need for LNG- Japan, and the world, may now turn away from nuclear and toward LNG- Australian producers will not benefit in the short term, but should in the long term- US shale gas looms as a possible ...

Australian Dollar Outlook 4/4/2011

The Australian Dollar touched another post-float high this morning above 1.0400 after a stronger than anticipated jobs number from the US on Friday evening.

NAB Offers Value, Says DJ Carmichael

- NAB's retail banking operations are improving, notes DJ Carmichael- NAB is gaining retail market share and the stockbroker believes NAB is attractive relative to peers- NAB and WBC outperformed CBA and ANZ, which throws up a question mark about relative valuationsBy Chris Shaw and Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe FNArena database shows a Sentiment Indicator reading for National Australia Bank ((NAB)) of ...

Daily Forex Forecast 04/04/2011

The Australian Dollar hit fresh 29-year highs on Friday night after US employers added more jobs than forecast last month fuelling another session of risk appetite.

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