Australian shares close at record high; gains reduced by profit taking - UPDATE |
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Thu, 25 Jan 2007 07:00
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SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - (Updating to include prices, comment) Share prices again closed at record highs this week as investors were buoyed by the overnight rise in US shares and a further gain in base metal prices in London trading, dealers said.The market's rise was reduced by late profit taking ahead of a shortened trading week for local investors due to the Australia Day holiday on Friday.The S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1 points or just 0.02 pct to a record close of 5,769.9, beating yesterday's record closing level of 5,768.8.The key index closed off a new intra-day record high of 5,802.1 and above the low of 5,769.9.Over the trading week the index rose 76.8 points or 1.7 pct after four consecutive record closes.The broader All Ordinaries index gained 4.2 points to a fresh record close of 5,753.3, also beating Wednesday's previous record close of 5,749.1 and setting a fresh intra-day record of 5,782.9.Dealers said global miner BHP Billiton climbed on the firmer base metal prices but the gains were tempered by its December half production report which showed mixed results across its product range.BHP Billiton shares gained 0.19 aud or 0.73 pct to finish at 26.09 aud while Rio Tinto jumped 1.45 or 1.19 pct to 77.45.APN News & Media rose above the 6.05 aud share bid price from a consortium led by Ireland's Independent News and Media PLC.APN shares ended unchanged at 6.15 after earlier trading to a high of 6.20.Property and construction group Multiplex Group surged on announcing it had received a request to start discussions for a proposed takeover.Multiplex shares jumped 0.72 or 17.43 pct to close at 4.85.Engineering services group WorleyParsons rose following its projection of a 15 pct or more increase in net profit for the December half, compared to the previous six months.WorleyParsons shares advanced 1.40 or 6.83 pct to end at 21.90.However, gold miner Newcrest Mining fell sharply after stating it had cut its gold reserve estimates at its troubled Telfer project in northwest Australia by 12 pct.Newcrest shares plunged 2.67 or 11.14 pct to finish at 21.30 while Lihir Gold rose 0.08 or 2.66 pct to 3.09.A total of 1.93 bln shares traded, worth 7.77 bln aud, with rises outnumbering falls 649 to 585 while 337 stocks were unchanged.The S&P/ASX200 March futures contract was up 14.0 points at 5,761.0.The 10-year bond yield fell 0.015 to 5.820 pct while 90-day bills shed 0.090 at 6.385 pct.Aequs Securities head of institutional trading Ric Klusman said afternoon book-squaring ahead of the long weekend tempered the market's rise.'There was a temptation to lock-in profits ahead of the weekend, particularly because there's still data to come-out in the US this week including housing data,' Klusman said.He said corporate activity remained a feature with APN easing as the market waits for an assessment from the media group's independent directors of Independent's 6.05 aud offer for outstanding shares, while the market was also trying the identify the unnamed party interested in Multiplex.'I haven't heard who it is and am not sure if the Roberts family are sellers,' Klusman said, referring to the group's largest stakeholder, the family of Multiplex founder the late John Roberts.Klusman said BHP made gains despite a patchy two quarter production report.'Apart from commodity prices, people are buying it on expectations of increased dividends or capital management initiatives when its results are announced on February 7,' he said.Market consensus forecasts are for BHP to report a record fiscal first half profit of 6.4 bln usd, up from last year's record 4.4 bln interim profit.National Australia Bank shares fell 0.08 to close at 40.32, Commonwealth Bank eased 0.01 to 50.15 while ANZ gained 0.13 to 28.93 and Westpac added 0.05 to 25.00.Macquarie Bank slipped 0.01 to 81.00 and Babcock & Brown eased 0.02 to 26.73.ASX rose 0.59 to a record close of 39.34.QBE lost 0.50 to 30.30, AMP shed 0.08 to 10.50, IAG also fell 0.08 to 6.45 while Promina gained 0.13 to 7.33 and Suncorp-Metway rose 0.27 to 28.87.News Corp climbed 0.27 to 31.26 and its non-voting stock advanced 0.38 to 29.79.Telstra fell 0.05 to 4.24, its T3 receipts shed 0.06 to 2.81 while SingTel gained 0.05 to 2.95.Zinifex retreated 0.11 to 17.92, Alumna fell 0.12 to 6.62 and Oxiana eased 0.01 to 2.96.ERA jumped 0.67 or 3.19 pct to a record 21.67 but Paladin fell 0.09 to 8.86.Woodside was down 0.02 at 37.27, Santos slipped 0.01 to 9.48 and Oil Search lost 0.11 or 3.1 pct to 3.44 after stating it was unaware of any takeover offers.BlueScope dropped 0.16 to 8.31 and OneSteel shed 0.08 to 4.65.Brambles advanced 0.13 to 13.31 while Amcor eased 0.04 to 7.21.James Hardie added 0.03 to 9.70 but Rinker fell 0.04 to 18.26 and Boral shed 0.05 to 8.13.Woolworths lost 0.22 to 23.27, Coles was down 0.06 at 14.10 and David Jones fell 0.08 to 4.36.Fairfax gained 0.06 to 4.39 but PBL lost 0.18 to 20.30 and Seven Network dropped 0.17 to 11.75.Qantas added 0.02 to 5.37, Virgin Blue was steady at 2.60 and Toll Holdings rose 0.11 to 21.01.(1 usd = 1.28 aud)paul.daniel@xfn.com
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Australian shares close at record high; gains reduced by profit taking 