Australian Markets Report

Provided by The Australian Investor

Friday 5th October 2001

Australian stocks were prepared to stand on the side-lines yesterday and watch Wall Street's rally, the All Ords once again cautiously inching forward rather than gathering a head of steam.

The All Ordinaries was up a meagre 6 points (0.2 per cent) to 3067.5 while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 4.7 points to 3130.9.

Leading the market were the media stocks, the media index up 428.5 points (1.8 per cent) to 24904.4. Leading the way was News Corporation which gained 29 cents (2.3 per cent) to $13.09, Fairfax regained 5 cents to $3.39 while Southern Cross Broadcasting dropped 20 cents to $10.90

The resource sector also quietly pushed forward, the resource index up 9.3 points (0.7 per cent) to 1344.7. The most impressive resource stock today was Oil Search which skyrocketed 16 cents (21.6 per cent) to 90 cents following a positive drilling report from its Moran-6 well. Meanwhile Rio Tinto climbed 67 cents (2.1 per cent) to $32.70 and Iluku Resource jumped 12 cents (3.4 per cent) to $3.65. Anaconda Nickel plummeted 11 cents (13.1 per cent) to 73 cents, Woodside Petroleum lost 42 cents (3 per cent) to $13.36 while AngloGold shed $1.50 (2.3 per cent) to $63.50.

Banks stocks were quiet today, the bank index slipping 34.4 points (0.4 per cent) to 8203.6. Pushing forward was the Bank of Queensland up 18 cents to $5.85 and ANZ which gained 36 cents to $16.69. Not fairing as well was NAB which shed 46 cents (1.6 per cent) to $27.82 and St. George which retreated 25 cents to $15.53

A surging Nasdaq helped technology stocks climb with eCorp climbing 8 cents (18 per cent) to 49 cents and Optiscan jumping 14 cents (30.4 per cent). While biotechnology stocks also pushed forward, Chemeq skyrocketing 19 cents (26.8 per cent) to 90 cents and Biota up 11 cents (30.6 per cent) to 47 cents.

Among the other movers were Qantas which ascended 18 cents (5.7 per cent) to $3.34 with Air New Zealand's recapitalisation unlikely to impede its growth at least in the short-term, BRL Hardy dropped 48 cents (4.5 per cent) to $10.14, Leighton climbed 34 cents (3.4 per cent) to $10.44, Toll Holdings gained 69 cents (2.9 per cent) to $23.77, Land Lease advanced 29 cents (2.7 per cent) to $11 while earnings fear sent Telstra down 13 cents (2.6 per cent) to $5.05.

Industrials

The S&P/ASX 200 Industrials index gained 2.1 points to 5417.3

Resources

The S&P/ASX 200 Resources index gained 11.5 points (0.9 per cent) to 1361.4

Gold

The gold index dropped 6.4 points to 862.8

AUD

At 1600 local time the Aussie dollar was trading at:

$US 0.4989 up from 0.4979
Euro 0.5449 up from 0.5408
Yen 60.06 down from 60.15
$NZ $1.2178 down from $1.2204
Stg 0.339 down from 0.3392

Asian Markets

In TOKYO, The Nikkei gained 281.3 points (2.8 per cent) to 10205.5

In HONG KONG, The Hang Seng gained 345 points (3.5 per cent) to 10242.1 by the end of the first session

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