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At midday the S&P/ASX200 index was down 49 points, while the All Ordinaries lost 55.
Wall Street ended with a mixed performance on Wednesday. Blue chips fell on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s concerned comments about long-term rising inflation. A strong performance by technology stocks helped stem losses though, led by positive private-sector employment data.
At the bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped 12 points while the tech heavy Nasdaq added 22.
In Asian trading today, Japan’s Nikkei was down 92 points at noon, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 27.
In ASX news today, Chinese steel maker Sinosteel has bumped up its stake in takeover target Midwest Corp for the second time in as many days, as it vies with fellow Midwest suitor Murchison Metals for control of the iron ore miner.
Sinosteel said today that it had now acquired a 33 per cent voting stake in Midwest, up from 28 per cent yesterday. However in an earlier statement, Murchison said the implementation of its merger plans were still going full steam ahead.
In other news, telecoms group Entertainment Media today announced that it has signed the initial agreement for a five year deal with the Immigration Department of Malaysia, for the supply of its national security system NexCode.
Entertainment Media said it expects the deal to generate full year revenue of up to $80 million. The group also released its full year net profit forecast for 2009 of $48 million, up from a projected $10 million profit this year.
Finally, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today shows a dramatic narrowing in the country’s international trade deficit for April to $957 million, down from a figure of $2.5 billion in March. It is the first time in 14 months that the deficit has fallen below the $1 billion mark.
Commentators say that the narrowing of the gap reflects rising iron ore and coal prices, as well as increased output from Queensland’s coal mines, which were affected by flooding earlier in the year.
In individual share price movements on the ASX this morning resource stocks were the main drag. At noon BHP Billiton was down $1.29, Fortescue Metals lost 38 cents, Rio Tinto fell $5.00, while Woodside Petroleum plummeted $4.12 or more than six per cent, on falling oil prices.
Banking stock made modest gains. At midday, ANZ was up 18 cents, Commonwealth Bank put on 55, National Australia Bank gained 33 cents and Westpac added 9.
Other major blue chips made losses in morning trade. AMP was down three cents at noon, News Corp fell 15 cents, Telstra slipped five cents while Woolworths lost eight.
Wall Street ended with a mixed performance on Wednesday. Blue chips fell on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s concerned comments about long-term rising inflation. A strong performance by technology stocks helped stem losses though, led by positive private-sector employment data.
At the bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped 12 points while the tech heavy Nasdaq added 22.
In Asian trading today, Japan’s Nikkei was down 92 points at noon, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 27.
In ASX news today, Chinese steel maker Sinosteel has bumped up its stake in takeover target Midwest Corp for the second time in as many days, as it vies with fellow Midwest suitor Murchison Metals for control of the iron ore miner.
Sinosteel said today that it had now acquired a 33 per cent voting stake in Midwest, up from 28 per cent yesterday. However in an earlier statement, Murchison said the implementation of its merger plans were still going full steam ahead.
In other news, telecoms group Entertainment Media today announced that it has signed the initial agreement for a five year deal with the Immigration Department of Malaysia, for the supply of its national security system NexCode.
Entertainment Media said it expects the deal to generate full year revenue of up to $80 million. The group also released its full year net profit forecast for 2009 of $48 million, up from a projected $10 million profit this year.
Finally, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today shows a dramatic narrowing in the country’s international trade deficit for April to $957 million, down from a figure of $2.5 billion in March. It is the first time in 14 months that the deficit has fallen below the $1 billion mark.
Commentators say that the narrowing of the gap reflects rising iron ore and coal prices, as well as increased output from Queensland’s coal mines, which were affected by flooding earlier in the year.
In individual share price movements on the ASX this morning resource stocks were the main drag. At noon BHP Billiton was down $1.29, Fortescue Metals lost 38 cents, Rio Tinto fell $5.00, while Woodside Petroleum plummeted $4.12 or more than six per cent, on falling oil prices.
Banking stock made modest gains. At midday, ANZ was up 18 cents, Commonwealth Bank put on 55, National Australia Bank gained 33 cents and Westpac added 9.
Other major blue chips made losses in morning trade. AMP was down three cents at noon, News Corp fell 15 cents, Telstra slipped five cents while Woolworths lost eight.
