Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange on Tuesday:
AAC – AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY LTD – down two cents at $1.39
Beef producer Australian Agricultural Company does not expect the live cattle trade to Indonesia to resume quickly, but still anticipates a profitable year.
AFI – AUSTRALIAN FOUNDATION INVESTMENT COMPANY LTD – up eight cents at $4.46
Foreign investors have all but deserted Australian shares, retaining investments only in resources companies, because of the high local dollar and political uncertainty, a fund manager says.
BHP – BHP BILLITON LTD – down 37 cents at $43.06
Officials at the world’s largest copper mine, BHP BIlliton’s Escondida in northern Chile, contend that a strike by more than 2,300 workers is illegal and threatened to dismiss the workers.
DOW – DOWNER EDI LTD – down nine cents at $3.77
Downer EDI has been awarded a public transport rail maintenance services contract in Western WA.
GNC – GRAINCORP LTD – down 22 cents at $8.14
Grains marketer GrainCorp has boosted its malting operations, agreeing to buy a German maltster for an enterprise value of about $77 million.
GNS – GUNNS LTD – down 0.5 cent at 26.5 cents
The forestry deal signed between the Tasmanian and federal governments presents the state’s best chance to end a 30-year conflict, Premier Lara Giddings says.
MCC – MACARTHUR COAL LTD – steady at $15.50
Macarthur Coal’s sales for the June quarter fell 22.5 per cent, due to extended wet weather that began late last year.
NWS – NEWS CORPORATION – down eight cents at $15.12
NWSLV – NEWS CORPORATION NON-VOTING – up five cents at $14.85
A parliamentary inquiry into the media could produce some genuine reform and not just allow politicians to seek revenge on the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s global empire, an independent federal MP says.
ORI – ORICA LTD – down 40 cents at $26.35
Explosives maker Orica has reaffirmed that profit in fiscal 2011 will be higher than that in 2010.
PNA – PANAUST LTD – down four cents at $4.23
Southeast Asia-focussed miner PanAust has blamed a destructive wet season for rising costs and a fall in full year copper production.
PMV – PREMIER INVESTMENTS LTD – down 19 cents at $5.12
Premier Investments’ new retail chief Mark McInnes has unveiled as many as 50 store closures and downgraded the company’s earnings outlook, amid a spending drought.
WBC – WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – down 34 cents at $21.26
The Bank of Melbourne, a Westpac subsidiary, opened 40 branches in Victoria as part of the bank’s relaunch, and plans to add 85 more.
AAP
