Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?

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            [3] => ((QAN))
            [4] => ((NHC))
            [5] => ((CDU))
            [6] => ((FKP))
            [7] => ((CHC))
            [8] => ((KAR))
            [9] => ((SBM))
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            [5] => CDU
            [6] => FKP
            [7] => CHC
            [8] => KAR
            [9] => SBM
            [10] => SIR
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This story features REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED, and other companies.
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: RRL
The company is included in ASX100, ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS

By Stephen Hogan

The Australian market (XJO) closed up 3.2 points or 0.06% to 5251.2 today. We began the day in the red but managed to get back to the black around lunch to finish flat. On the open price moved down to the low of 5228.1 at 10:32am and rose from there until the RBA minutes were announced. He hit a high of 5463.5 at 3:15pm to move lower on the close. Overnight U.S. markets closed higher. The Dow Jones rose 0.77% and the S&P 500 gained 0.57%. The best performing sector was Utilities, gaining 0.99%, while the worst sector was Gold followed by Metals and Mining, falling -2.41% and -0.72%.

In economic news, the RBA Minutes for the September meeting have been released, with the RBA stating it will continue to examine data over the months ahead to assess whether monetary policy is appropriately configured. According to the RBA, the September hold came on the back of the substantial degree of policy stimulus already in place. The members agreed that the Bank should again neither close off the possibility of reducing rates further nor signal an imminent intention to reduce them. Here are a few lines from the minutes:

"Given the substantial degree of policy stimulus in place, the Board judged that it was appropriate to retain the current setting of interest rates. Members agreed that the Bank should again neither close off the possibility of reducing rates further nor signal an imminent intention to reduce them. The Board would continue to examine the data over the months ahead to assess whether monetary policy was appropriately configured."

The ABS revealed that International merchandise imports rose adjusted balance of payments basis rose by 1% in August to $22.58 billion, after July where imports were revised up to $22.3 billion, from an initial $21.45 billion. The breakdown for August showed imports of consumption goods climbed 5%, or $309 million, driven mainly by cars and beverages.

More figures from the ABS showed new vehicle sales rose 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted 94,396 in August, from 93,633 in July. Sales had been volatile the previous two months, first jumping 3.6% in June only to fall by the same amount in July. Annual growth in sales slowed further, with sales up a slight 0.2% on August last year. Sales of passenger vehicles increased by 2.1% in August, while those for sports utilities rose 2.9% and were up over 6% on the year.

Australia has boosted its projection for live cattle exports by 25%, as the Indonesian market abandoned a quota system. Australia relies heavily on Indonesian demand, and had been hit hard by the tightening of quotas in its largest live cattle market in 2012 and 2013. The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said in a report on Tuesday that total live exports would stand at 590,000 head of cattle in the 2013-14 season that begins in October, up from the 470,000 touted earlier.

Regis Resources Limited ((RRL)) reported a FY13 profit after tax of $145.73, up from $68.24 million last year. RRL's Gold sales more than doubled to 253 ounces, from 107 ounces previously. Sales revenue was $416.1 million, up from $245.8 million to. The average sale price increased to $1599 per ounce, up from $1574 per ounce. However, the cash cost of production rose 10% in the full year due to cost increases at the company's Moolart Well operation. Regis declared a fully franked maiden dividend of 15c per share.

TPG Telecom Limited ((TPM)) reported a net profit of $149.2 million for FY13, up 64% on the net profit of $90.96 million in FY12. TPG says that growth in the number of its broadband and mobile phone subscribers at a faster rate than last year was the main contributor to the rise. The FY12 report was tainted by a one-off tax expense of $23.2 million arising from retrospective changes to tax law. Excluding the tax expense, TPG's net profit rose 31%.

More on TPG: the company has plans to rollout fibre-optic cables to half a million apartments in Australia to take advantage of the change in broadband policy under new Coalition government. TPG will extend its existing fibre networks to basements of apartments in major capital cities, promising to deliver NBN-like internet speed of 100 megabits per second. The Coalition's broadband policy encourages internet services providers such as TPG to invest in infrastructure to speed up the delivery of broadband to households.

Leighton Holdings Limited ((LE)I) subsidiary John Holland has won a $257 million contract to a rail way building project. John Holland will construct nearly 350km of heavy haulage railway track through remote terrain from the Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill mine site to Port Hedland. John Holland was awarded the sub-contract from Samsung C&T, which holds the contract to develop the iron ore mine. Work on the two-year rail project in will start October.

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited ((VAH))'s new large share holder Etihad airways has again added to its stakes, buying over $12 million at 44.99c per share. Etihad's holding has jumped up to 14.45% of VAH. Etihad plans to keep buying until it reaches a 19.9% holding, level with the second largest shareholder Singapore Airways.

Qantas Airways Limited ((QAN)) has called for a review of its aircraft maintenance work at Avalon. The Australian Workers Union (AWU) says the announced operations review is code for closure and flags another move towards off shoring. The union fears that up to 300 remaining engineering jobs may be made redundant. AWU Victorian secretary Ben Davis, "We know from experience that when Qantas does a review, jobs go." The review follows 263 redundancies at Avalon announced in November last year and the closure of the Tullamarine heavy maintenance facility with the loss of 422 jobs. QAN is stressing that no final decision has been made as the review at Avalon begins.

New Hope Corporation Limited ((NHC)) reported a net profit fell to $74.1 million for FY13, sharply lower than the $167.1 million from a year earlier. Revenue was $652.1 million down from $767.5 million last year. Earnings a share slid to 8.9c from 20.1c a year earlier. NHC will pay a final dividend of 5c a share along with a special dividend of also 5c a share.

AUD is currently trading at $0.9316, down -$0.0002 against the USD.

Top Performers

TPG Telecom Limited (TPM) up $0.53 or 14.32% to $4.23

Cudeco Limited ((CDU)) up $0.11 or 5.47% to $2.12

FKP Property Group ((FKP)) up $0.06 or 4.32% to $1.45

Charter Hall Group ((CHC)) up $0.14 or 3.92% to $3.71

Karoon Gas Australia Limited ((KAR)) up $0.18 or 3.48% to $5.35

Bottom Performers

St Barbara Limited ((SBM)) down -$0.055 or -9.02% to $0.555

Sirius Resources Limited ((SIR)) down -$0.22 or -7.61% to $2.67

Regis Resources Limited ((RRL)) down -$0.30 or -7.50% to $3.70

Resolute Mining Limited ((RSG)) down -$0.035 or -5.15% to $0.645

Perseus Mining Limited ((PRU)) down -$0.03 or -4.96% to $0.575

Our Comments

After another break of the previous high, we came back on the close and finished right on that level again of 5250. It feels like Groundhog Day as I have said this multiple times over the last week, but it may take a few more sessions to crack it well and truly. At such a significant level like this you have worry warts selling concerned it will be a resistance level, and on the flip side you have those becoming more optimistic that have been sitting in cash waiting for a break of the previous high as confirmation they can move back into shares. Argy bargy as they say.

We moved a little into cash a couple of weeks back, but that time is over. For me I am well and truly convinced it is time to be fully invested and any downside will be short lived. Cash is no longer king and you need to have all available funds in the market working hard for you. The next 2 years are going to be very exciting for people brave enough to be in the market from this point forward and 25% returns should be very achievable for conservative investors over that time.

I know if we are going to get a move towards 6000 the mid tier and small cap stocks are going to need to share some of the load, but today I noticed some significant breaks to the upside on our large caps.

Some noticeable shares are NAB, RIO, MQG, ANZ, ORG, SUN all of which are in the top 20. MQG looks like the strongest large cap stock on the board at the moment so we are leveraging into this for clients with shares as well as Bull Put spreads.

The U.S. last night had a small reversal so I am eager to see their price action tonight.

(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

Novus Capital Limited ("Novus") is holder of Australian Financial Services Licence No 238 168. Novus, its directors, officers, associates and employees each declare that they, from time to time, may hold interests in financial products and/or earn brokerage, commission, fees or other benefits from financial products mentioned in this e-mail or attached documents. Unless specifically stated within this e-mail or an attached document, any information communicated by this e-mail constitutes unsolicited general financial product advice which has been compiled without regard to any investor's individual objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not specific advice for any particular investor. Before making any decision about the information provided, you need to consider the appropriateness of this information having regard to your individual objectives, financial situation and needs and consult your adviser. Any indicative information and assumptions used here are summarised and also may change without notice to you, particularly if based on past performance or relate to a future matter.

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