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Australian Market Ends in Positive Territory
(RTTNews) – The Australian market ended Thursday’s Trading session in positive territory with modest gains, despite weak cues from Wall Street where the major averages ended in negative territory amid profit taking despite better than expected economic reports and the passage of the tax bill by the Senate. traders mostly stayed away from the markets ahead of the Christmas holidays as can be evinced from light volumes across the board. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index advanced 16.20 points, or 0.34%, and closed at 4,784 points, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,869, representing a gain of 15.40 points, or 0.32%.on the economic front, a statement released by the Melbourne Institute revealed that Australia’s consumer inflationary expectations fell to 2.8% in November from 3.1% in the previous month. Commenting on the results, Michael Chua, a research fellow at the Melbourne Institute, said that the central bank’s rate hike in November had helped in inflation expectations. “Nevertheless, the median consumer inflationary expectations in December remains on a high side,” he said. Data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia revealed that the central had sold a net A$342 milloin in the Foreign Exchange market in November, following a net sale of A$305 million in the previous month. The central bank further noted that it had bought a net A$355 million in the forex market from the Australian government in November following a net purchase of A$368 million in the previous month.Light sweet crude oil futures for January delivery was trading at $88.47 a barrel in electronic trading, down $0.15 per barrel from previous close at $88.62 a barrel in New York on Wednesday.Oil related stocks ended in positive territory. Woodside Petroleum added 0.28%, Santos ltd climbed 2.94%, ROC Oil ltd surged up 3.85% and Origin Energy edged up 0.29%. However, Oil Search ltd bucked the positive trend and ended in negative territory with a loss of 0.28%.Mixed performance was witnessed among the major banks in light trading session. ANZ Bank slipped 0.25% and National Australia Bank edged down 0.04%. However, Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 0.87% and Westpac Banking Corp., ended in positive territory with a gain of 0.35%. Investment banking company Macquarie Group gained 1.02%.Resource related stocks also witnessed mixed trading. BHP Billiton edged up 0.07% and Iluka Resources advanced 0.94%. However, Rio Tinto slipped 0.02%, Fortescue Metals shed 0.88%, Gindalbie Metals lost 2.26%, Macarthur Coal fell 1.11%,Murchison Metals was down 0.78% and Oz Minerals declined 2.65%.Airliner Virgin Blue was the major gainer, having surged up 5.88% after the the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granted approval for a tie-up with Air New Zealand on their trans-Tasman routes. Qantas Airways, however, ended in negative territory with a loss of 2.57%.in the U.S., stocks ended largely on the downside on Wednesday, even as New York State manufacturing activity and industrial production numbers beat forecasts, while consumer price inflation remained subdued despite recent signs of life from the retail sector. Profit taking may have contributed to the downturn by the markets as some market participants are closing the books on 2010. The pullback also came amid an increase in the value of the dollar as well as an increase in bond yields. The major averages all saw choppy trading in late-session dealing, bouncing around near session lows. The Dow slid by 19.07 points or 0.2% to 11,457, the Nasdaq fell by 10.50 points or 0.4% to 2,617 and the S&P 500 declined by 6.36 points or 0.5% to 1,235.for comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.comCopyright(c) 2010 RTTNews.com, inc. all Rights Reserved
Market Commentary and Intraday News
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