Building Material & Const

Speculation is rising again that Newcrest will look to take out Lihir. Meanwhile James Hardie defends its building products and the supermarket battle heats up.

Will banks be releasing unneeded provisions into profits shortly? How’s the housing market looking? And has the media sector really rebounded?

Local GDP forecasts increase on bulk commodity prices, while range-trading and stock-picking look to be the story for 2010 in a more conservative corporate environment.

Minc Stockbroking’s Doug Grant suggests why traders should be shorting James Hardie despite its recent fall.

Some stockbroker’s argue investors should forget about Crane Group’s short term earnings outlook and focus on FY12 instead. But not everyone’s buying it.

Leighton Holdings beat market estimate with its interim result but the lack of any upgrade to full year guidance and a soft work-in-hand result sees value becoming a question mark.

A Westpac-Melbourne Institite survey has showed Australians remain positive on the outlook for property prices, with 84% of those responding expecting prices to gain in 2010.

Australian housing finance numbers for November were weaker than market expectations, with the first home buyer segment particularly soft.

The FY result barely pipped expectations and 2010 will admittedly be a tough year, but a light is being seen by some the end of the tunnel.

The market largely ingnored CSR’s interim result to focus on the equity issue prior to the proposed de-merger of the sugar business.