Chinese Industry Up, Japanese Exports Fall
Good news and bad news from three of our major export markets yesterday.
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Newcrest Surprises With New Writedowns, Losses
Newcrest Mining (NCM) shares took a hammering yesterday as the country’s biggest gold miner revealed a surprising second multi-billion dollar writedown in nearly 13-months.
Read MoreIAG Boosts Margins To 14-Year High
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) confirmed yesterday that the warm dry weather across much of the East Coast and the absence of any large natural disasters (earthquakes, cyclones and storms floods) would generate record earnings for the year to June.
Read MoreMacquarie Shares Down On Soft Quarter
Macquarie Group (MQG) shares fell 3% yesterday after the company surprised with a weak trading update at the company’s AGM in Sydney.
Read MoreBHP Focus Moves To August
August 19 is the next big date for BHP Billiton (BHP) and its tens of thousands of shareholders, large and small.
Read MoreBKI Lifts Dividend After Higher Inflows
BKI Investment (BKI), a listed investment company (LIC) associated with the Brickworks-Washington H South Pattinson group of companies dominated by the Millner family, has joined the list of LICs reporting solid results for the year to June 30.
Read MoreKiwis Raise Rates Again
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has imposed another check to the possibility of an inflation break out across the Tasman with its fourth rate rise this year this morning.
Read MoreJune CPI Up, RBA Not Alarmed
Well, with the frothing and fretting about inflation after yesterday’s June quarter Consumer Price Index data, there’s one forecast that can be easily made about inflation – that one is that there will be a sharp fall in the next CPI for the current September quarter.
Read MoreIron Ore, Coal & Petroleum Star For BHP
BHP Billiton (BHP) reported record figures for four commodities, including iron ore and coal, two of its staple products, and 12 of its global mining empire, according to the June quarter and financial year operations report released this morning.
Read MoreAMCIL Reweights To Small Caps
Listed investment company, AMCIL (AMH), has sold its holdings in some of the biggest companies on the ASX, such as the ANZ and Woodside to refocus its investment portfolio on small to medium stocks.
Read MoreNetflix Booms, Time Warner Digs In
Netflix, the video streaming service that’s changing the world of broadcast media, has had a very profitable second quarter.
Read MoreNewcrest To Fight Class Action
Five years of market reporting and disclosures by gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) will be probed in court if a class action launched by a listed law company makes it to court.
Read MorePNG Pumps Oil Search
Oil Search (OSH) yesterday released its second-quarter production report, and investors liked what they saw. The report shows the company, like rivals Woodside (WPL) and Santos (STO), is benefitting from an upturn in production and prices for some products.
Read MoreAFIC To Ask Shareholders For Cash
Australian Foundation Investment Co (AFI), the country’s biggest listed invest company (LIC) has started the process to boost its war chest for the coming year as it searches for new investment opportunities.
Read MoreArrium’s Mixed Iron Ore News
The damage done to the revenues of iron ore exporters by the global slump in prices in the June quarter was there for everyone to see in yesterday’s production and exploration report for the three month period from Arrium (ARI), which ships ore from its mines near its steel plant in Whyalla, South Australia.
Read MoreBoart Shares Surge Despite Downgrade
Shares in stricken drilling contractor, Boart Longyear (BLY) surged (yes surged) yesterday after the company’s credit rating was again downgraded – this time by Standard & Poor’s.
Read MoreAustraland Confirms The Smart Timing Of Its Takeover
Australand (ALZ) was again the first real estate investment trust to produce an earnings report for the June 30 period yesterday, and it will probably the last time its occupies that industry- leading position on the ASX with the $2.5 billion takeover by a Thai-controlled Singapore company heading for success.
Read MoreRBA Won’t Be Moved By The June Quarter CPI
Don’t expect the Reserve Bank to be moved by the first significant June quarter Consumer Price Index due for release on Wednesday.
Read MoreDiary: Australian CPI, June Earnings, BHP Production Data
The June quarter and financial year inflation data will dominate local business and economic news this week, while offshore there’s the continuing tensions over the downing of MH17 and the invasion of Gaza by Israeli armed forces.
Read MoreCommodities Mixed, Watching Russia
Crude oil futures fell a touch on Friday amid continuing international tensions about the shooting down of MH17 and the Israeli invasion of Gaza saw heightened concerns about supply disruptions which in turn kept a floor on prices.
Read MoreMarkets To Kick Off On A Positive Note
For all the drama and tragedy surrounding the shooting down of MH17, financial markets ended the week in good shape.
Read MorePNG LNG Boosts Santos
Santos (STO) has joined Woodside (WPL) in revealing a sharp rise in revenues.
Read MoreCardno Shares Survive Earnings Revamp
Shares in Cardno (CDD), the infrastructure and environmental services consultancy, dipped 3.2% yesterday after the company revealed a downgrade to its earnings guidance for the 2013-14 financial year.
Read MoreDjerriwarrh Keeps Dividend Steady
Djerriwarrh Investments (DJW), the second of the listed investment companies based in Melbourne and linked to the old JBWere stable of companies, yesterday produced a solid 2013-14 result, with a profit rise of nearly 21% after tax and a final dividend of a steady 16c a share. That takes dividend for the full year to an unchanged 26c a share.
Read MoreWoodside Looking At Solid H1 Profit
Higher gas prices along with higher volumes of oil (and higher oil prices) sold helped to offset a lower level of shipments for Woodside Petroleum (WPL) in the June quarter and for the first half of the year.
Read MoreMurdoch Will Have To Risk Control To Win Time Warner
If Rupert Murdoch wants to cap his career as a media mogul by grabbing control of rival Time Warner, he will have to bet the company, including the family’s control over it, to succeed. Time Warner has rejected the $US80 billion cash and shares offer from Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox because the equity on offer from Fox consists of non-voting A class shares – the ones the Murdoch family have all but rejected.
Read MoreNew Malaysian Airlines Disaster Rattles Markets
World markets went to risk off overnight, sending prices lower in Europe and the US after the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine and the launching of a ground invasion of Gaza by the Israeli military.
Read MoreLiberty Global Acquires ITV Stake
Buried by all the hoo-ha about Rupert Murdoch’s $US80 billion bid for Time Warner was a smaller, but just as significant move in Britain overnight by US cable mogul, and Murdoch nemesis, John Malone, who is the only person to have taken Murdoch to the cleaners in an $US11 billion bit of greenmail in late 2006.
Read MoreChina’s Economic Growth Jumps
China’s economic growth accelerated in the three months to June, with quarter on quarter growth rising by 2%, up from the 1.4% seen in the March quarter.
Read MoreSirius Lands Big New Nickel Strike
Who would have thought that as BHP Billiton (BHP) prepares to sell off its Western Australian nickel operations that a once small exploration company appears to be on the verge of revealing a major new mining province in WA.
Read MoreRio Tinto Boosts Copper Prospects
Besides the full bore production and selling of its iron ore from its huge WA mines, Rio Tinto (RIO) has also revealed a considerable improvement in its copper business.
Read MoreChina’s Steel Production At Near Record Levels
Now for some more facts that again tell us that the Chinese steel industry isn’t falling in a heap, as we have heard time and time again this year (and for the past three years).
Read MoreRio Tinto Raises Iron Ore Production
Despite the sharp fall in global iron ore prices, mining giant, Rio Tinto (RIO) kept its Western Australian iron ore production and selling machine operating at full bore in the six months to June 30.
Read MoreOz Minerals Boosts Copper Estimates
Oz Minerals (OZL) yesterday revealed plans to boost copper production over the full year and lift waste removal operations – which saw the shares rise 18c to a day’s high of $4.49, before they turned lower and closed down 0.2% at $4.30. They had been as low as $4.215 during the early afternoon.
Read MoreWhitehaven More Upbeat On Outlook
We had better than expected news from two mid level miners in Whitehaven Coal (WHC) and Oz Minerals (OZL) in their June quarter production reports released yesterday to the ASX.
Read MoreChances Of El Nino Big Dry Have Dropped Sharply
What are the odds that could Australia avoid an El Nino weather pattern and the associated very dry conditions, event later this year? Falling fast, according to the latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Read MoreFinancial Inquiry Wants Regulators More Independent
The interim report into the Australian financial system, released yesterday, is heading down the route of recommending a significant tightening, not relaxing, of laws over superannuation advice, fees and other key rules.
Read MoreNufarm Rating Cut On Inventory Build Up
Nufarm (NUF) shares sank 2.8% to $4.53 yesterday after credit rating agency Moody’s cut the company’s rating.
Read MoreDavid Jones Deal Green-Lighted
David Jones (DJS) shareholders and South Africa’s Woolworths Ltd will have to wait until Thursday and a case in the Federal Court (not NSW Supreme Court) before the $2.15 billion takeover offer can be completed.
Read MoreLICs Start Reporting, Mirrabooka Pays Special Div
Here’s a trend or two that will become common to many listed investment companies (LICs) this reporting season, especially those in the old JBWere stable in Melbourne.
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