Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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This story features RIO TINTO LIMITED.
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: RIO
The company is included in ASX20, ASX50, ASX100, ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

By Stephen Hogan, Senior Private Client Adviser, Equities/Derivatives

Australian Market

The Australian market (XJO) closed down -32.2 points or 0.67% to 4809.5 today. The market spent some time briefly in the morning in positive territory, creating a high of 4853.5 points before moving lower, just before 1pm we made a low of 4786.1. There was a good move up from the low that stalled and ranged for the afternoon. On Friday the Dow Jones rose 147.29 points or 0.98% to 15,135.80 with some positive jobs data released. The best performing sector of the day was Energy, adding 0.67% while the worst was the Gold sector, falling -7.63%.

In economic news, The ANZ job ads series has been released today. According to ANZ, employment has declined by 1.8% in June, after a 2.5% decline in May. ANZ also reports that employment was 19% below the figures of June last year with Western Australia showing the steepest decline, falling 50% year on year.

Whitehaven Coal Limited ((WHC)) workers are protesting today, after over 50 Gomeroi traditional owners gathered outside the Maules Creek project in north western NSW. WHC workers walked off the job this morning, saying the work at Maules Creek will destroy local heritage. Gomeroi traditional owner Stephen Talbot says the Maules Creek mine will clear more than 4,000 acres (1,618.74 hectares) of ''culturally significant forest, artefacts and cultural values'' which have not been properly assessed. The $767 million mine was only approved for construction last Thursday after a 3 year period.

Rio Tinto Limited ((RIO)) has had their copper mine Oyu Tolgoi cleared for shipments by Mongolia, after two delays from the initial shipping start date in June. The U.S. $6.6 billion Copper mine is set to start shipments this week (9th July) as tensions between the miner and the Mongolian government have died down. Delays came about when the Mongolian Government disagreed on cost, tax payments and locals in management with Rio.

AUD is currently trading at $0.9063, up $0.0001 against the USD.

Top Performers

Discovery Metals Limited ((DML)) up $0.015 or 10.71% to $0.155

Billabong International Limited ((BBG)) up $0.025 or 9.62% to $0.285

Karoon Gas Australia Limited ((KAR)) up $0.44 or 7.89% to $6.02

Linc Energy Limited ((LNC)) up $0.07 or 7.18% to $1.045

Transfield Services Limited ((TSE)) up $0.05 or 6.67% to $0.80

Bottom Performers

Beadell Resources Limited ((BDR)) down -$0.075 or -12.93% to $0.505

Resolute Mining Limited ((RSG)) down -$0.065 or -10.92% to $0.53

Perseus Mining Limited ((PRU)) down -$0.06 or -10.71% to $0.50

Regis Resources Limited ((RRL)) down -$0.36 or -10.59% to $3.040

Medusa Mining Limited ((MML)) down -$0.18 or -9.84% to $1.65

Our Comments

More extreme volatility today with some pretty extreme moves in both directions intraday. Weakness was really material based today with bigger losses concentrated on iron ore plays and especially the gold sector. It was interesting to notice that the oil and gas plays all outperformed the market and actually traded quite well.

(For a more comprehensive summary of last night’s market action see FNArena’s Overnight Report.)
 

Re-published with permission. Views expressed are not by association FNArena's (see our disclaimer).

Stephen Hogan is an Authorised Representative of Novus Capital. Authorised Representative No.345411 – http://www.stephenhogan.com.au

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