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Both major indices remained subdued throughout morning trade and at noon the S&P/ASX200 index was down 15 points, while the All Ordinaries fell 17.
Wall Street made slight gains on Monday as another day of record oil prices boosted energy stocks. However technology shares retracted as memory chip supplier Sandisk warned of higher energy costs hurting consumer spending.
At close of trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 41 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 12.
In Asian trading today, Japan’s Nikkei was down 45 points at midday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 85.
Meanwhile in ASX news today, Australia’s top investment bank Macquarie Group this morning delivered a record annual net profit of $1.8 billion for the 12 months to March, just short of analysts’ expectations. The group said key profit drivers had been a strong equities unit performance and strong investment banking deal flows.
However a cautious outlook from incoming CEO Nicholas Moore saw Macquarie shares fall more than five per cent this morning. Mr Moore said that given the current state of the global markets it would be challenging, but achievable, to repeat the record gains this year.
In other news, Australia’s second largest brewer Lion Nathan today reported a 1.6 per cent rise in first half net profit, which came in at $164 million including one offs. Lion Nathan said the forecast-beating result was boosted by its premium beer sales.
The company also reiterated its guidance for the current fiscal year. CEO Rob Murray said that despite cost increases hitting manufacturers, Lion Nathan was well placed to deliver a solid full year result and to achieve a significant step up in earnings in 2009. Shares in Lion Nathan were up by more than two per cent at noon today.
Finally, some unsettling news for homeowners this morning following the release of minutes from the Reserve Bank’s latest board meeting.
The RBA revealed that it spent considerable time discussing the case for a further interest rate rise at its meeting on May 6. The minutes said that despite reaching the decision to leave rates unchanged at 7.25 per cent, the RBA remained very wary of inflation, and said it would review its policy should the current stance not slow the economy as expected.
In individual share price movements on the ASX earlier today, resource stocks lost ground on falling metal prices. At midday BHP Billiton was down 71 cents, Fortescue Metals fell 14, Rio Tinto slipped $1.37, and Woodside Petroleum shed $2.12.
Banking stocks performed with uncertainty. At noon, ANZ was down 23 cents, Commonwealth Bank fell five, National Australia Bank lost 28 cents, while Westpac gained 14.
Other blue chips were largely positive. At noon, AMP was up three cents, News Corp added five, Telstra gained three cents, while Woolworths put on 13.
Wall Street made slight gains on Monday as another day of record oil prices boosted energy stocks. However technology shares retracted as memory chip supplier Sandisk warned of higher energy costs hurting consumer spending.
At close of trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 41 points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 12.
In Asian trading today, Japan’s Nikkei was down 45 points at midday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 85.
Meanwhile in ASX news today, Australia’s top investment bank Macquarie Group this morning delivered a record annual net profit of $1.8 billion for the 12 months to March, just short of analysts’ expectations. The group said key profit drivers had been a strong equities unit performance and strong investment banking deal flows.
However a cautious outlook from incoming CEO Nicholas Moore saw Macquarie shares fall more than five per cent this morning. Mr Moore said that given the current state of the global markets it would be challenging, but achievable, to repeat the record gains this year.
In other news, Australia’s second largest brewer Lion Nathan today reported a 1.6 per cent rise in first half net profit, which came in at $164 million including one offs. Lion Nathan said the forecast-beating result was boosted by its premium beer sales.
The company also reiterated its guidance for the current fiscal year. CEO Rob Murray said that despite cost increases hitting manufacturers, Lion Nathan was well placed to deliver a solid full year result and to achieve a significant step up in earnings in 2009. Shares in Lion Nathan were up by more than two per cent at noon today.
Finally, some unsettling news for homeowners this morning following the release of minutes from the Reserve Bank’s latest board meeting.
The RBA revealed that it spent considerable time discussing the case for a further interest rate rise at its meeting on May 6. The minutes said that despite reaching the decision to leave rates unchanged at 7.25 per cent, the RBA remained very wary of inflation, and said it would review its policy should the current stance not slow the economy as expected.
In individual share price movements on the ASX earlier today, resource stocks lost ground on falling metal prices. At midday BHP Billiton was down 71 cents, Fortescue Metals fell 14, Rio Tinto slipped $1.37, and Woodside Petroleum shed $2.12.
Banking stocks performed with uncertainty. At noon, ANZ was down 23 cents, Commonwealth Bank fell five, National Australia Bank lost 28 cents, while Westpac gained 14.
Other blue chips were largely positive. At noon, AMP was up three cents, News Corp added five, Telstra gained three cents, while Woolworths put on 13.
