{"id":62109,"date":"2013-07-04T17:11:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T07:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fnarena.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/04\/australian-stocks-what-happened-today-122\/"},"modified":"2013-07-04T17:11:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T07:11:27","slug":"australian-stocks-what-happened-today-122","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/2013\/07\/04\/australian-stocks-what-happened-today-122\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Stocks: What Happened Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBy Stephen Hogan<\/a>, Senior Private Client Adviser, Equities\/Derivatives<\/p>\n

\n\tAustralian Market<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Australian market (XJO) closed up 50.6 points or 1.07% to 4794.7 today. The market opened strongly this morning with an over 50 point jump to the day's high of 4800.5. After a small pull back the XJO ranged for the rest of the day. The XJO took a lead from last night's activity overseas with The Dow Jones rose 56.14 points or 0.38% to 14,988.50. All except one market sector finished positive today. Information technology fell -1.72% while the big winners were the Energy and Gold sectors, adding 2.69% and 2.65% respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn economic news, today a report for approvals for the construction of new homes dropped 1.1% across Australia for the month of May, forecasted for a 1% drop. Local councils approved the construction of 13,781 new homes, including houses, townhouses and apartments in multi-unit buildings, in May, compared to 13,932 approvals in April, seasonally adjusted.<\/p>\n

\n\tToday the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries VFACTS total vehicle sales report showed sales in June were 118,758, a 22.7% increase on May. After adjusting for seasonal factors, sales were up 5.8%. Sales were also up 5.5% on June last year, while sales for the first six months of 2013 were running 4.7% ahead of the same period last year. Demand for sports utility vehicles remained brisk with sales 8.3% higher than in June last year. The light commercial market had a strong month with sales jumping 15.3% on last year, a pointer to solid business investment.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhitehaven Coal Limited ((WHC)) today has received the final approval for building its Maules Creek project in NSW worth $767 million. WHC Managing director Paul Flynn said preparation of the mine site, near Boggabri, would begin next week. First coal sales are expected by the second half of 2014. ''The project is one of the most significant investments currently underway in regional NSW,'' he said in a statement. ''It expects to employ 340 full time equivalent employees and contractors in the construction phase and approximately 470 during ongoing operations.''<\/p>\n

\n\tAMP Capital has stuck a deal to buy a 42% stake in a New Zealand electricity and gas distributer called Powerco. The deal will be for N.Z. $525 million from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Once approved by New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office, the deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. Powerco is New Zealand's second largest electricity and gas distributor, supplying over 420k customers on the north island.<\/p>\n

\n\tCrown Limited ((CWN)) has received approval from NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell today to proceed to the third stage of the government's unsolicited proposal process for major projects. An independent panel has concluded that Crown's new invite only casino would have more benefits to the state than an expansion to Echo Entertainment Group's ((EGP)) Star City casino. Crown will pay a $100 million licence fee for 20 years and all gaming revenue will be taxed at 29%.<\/p>\n

\n\tAUD is currently trading at $0.9114, up $0.0030 against the USD.<\/p>\n

\tTop Performers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBillabong International Limited ((BBG)) up $0.03 or 15.00% to $0.225<\/p>\n

\n\tLinc Energy Limited ((LNC)) up $0.13 or 14.29% to $1.01<\/p>\n

\n\tSirius Resources Limited ((SIR)) up $0.28 or 13.59% to $2.29<\/p>\n

\n\tKaroon Gas Australia Limited ((KAR)) up $0.58 or 11.26% to $5.73<\/p>\n

\n\tPerseus Mining Limited ((PRU)) up $0.06 or 10.00% to $0.625<\/p>\n

\tBottom Performers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tEcho Entertainment Group Limited (EGP) down -$0.13 or -4.28% to $2.91<\/p>\n

\n\tComputershare Limited ((CPU)) down -$0.27 or -2.69% to $9.77<\/p>\n

\n\tAdelaide Brighton Limited ((ABC)) down -$0.06 or -1.88% to $3.13<\/p>\n

\n\tJB Hi-Fi Limited ((JBH)) down -$0.21 or -1.24% to $16.66<\/p>\n

\n\tFairfax Media Limited ((FXJ)) down -$0.005 or -0.97% to $0.51<\/p>\n

\n\tOur Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t(For a more comprehensive summary of last night’s market action see FNArena’s<\/span><\/a> Overnight Report.)
\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tRe-published with permission. Views expressed are not by association FNArena's<\/span> (see our disclaimer).<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tStephen Hogan is an Authorised<\/span> Representative of Novus<\/span> Capital. Authorised<\/span> Representative No.345411 – http:\/\/www.stephenhogan.com.au<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tNovus<\/span> Capital Limited ("Novus<\/span>") is holder of Australian Financial Services Licence<\/span> No 238 168. Novus<\/span>, 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<\/span> and also may change without notice to you, particularly if based on past performance or relate to a future matter.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tNovus<\/span> believes that any information or advice (including any financial product recommendation) contained in this document is accurate when issued but do not warrant its accuracy or reliability. Novus<\/span> is not obliged to provide you with updated information or advice if circumstances change. Novus<\/span>, its directors, officers, associates and employees exclude to the full extent permitted by law, all liability of any kind whether in negligence, contract, under a fiduciary duty or otherwise, for any loss or damage, whether direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise, whether foreseeable or not, arising from or in connection with this e-mail or an attached document.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tFind out why FNArena<\/span> subscribers like the service so much: "Your Feedback (Thank You)<\/a>" – Warning this story contains unashamedly positive feedback on the service provided.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wrap of the day’s activity on the Australian stock market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}