The local share market has crept slightly higher to close the week on a bright note, shares in the miners gaining on news of a takeover bid for CBH Resources and Cape Lambert’s sale of its Lady Annie copper mine.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 4 points higher at 4,818, up 51 points on the week, while on the futures market, the SPI200 is steady.
Looking to the U.S. and on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial index rose 46 points on the four trading days this week. The S&P500 Index added 12, the NASDAQ gained 42 points and the 100 index lifted 35 points.
In economic news: New RBA figures show the total value of credit and charge card transactions fell by 22% in January – marking their biggest monthly dive since January 2005. Australians spent $17.18 billion on their credit and charge cards, compared to $22.02 billion in December.
To company news around this afternoon: Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX:IAG) says storm claim costs are likely to exceed the company’s budgeted allowance for the second half. The company has received over 24,000 claims following the severe weather in Victoria. As a result, natural peril costs are now estimated to exceed the budgeted $184 million allowance for the second half by $105 million. The recent flood of claims will wipe almost 2% off the company’s reported full year margin, and the group is subsequently refining its first year insurance margin guidance to 10.5 to 12%, from 11.5 to 13%. IAG Managing Director and CEO Michael Wilkins says the company’s first priority is to meet the needs of its customers. Shares in Insurance Australia Group are up 0.25% at $3.96.
A US class action against Lend Lease Group (ASX:LLC) subsidiary, Bovis Lend Lease, has finally been settled after almost six years. Workers on the World Trade Centre site in New York filed the action in September 2004 against a number of parties who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and helped with the rescue and clean-up effort. The class action alleged the parties did little to protect workers from dust, asbestos and toxins in the air during the clean-up. It was brought against a raft of defendants including the City of New York and Bovis Lend Lease, which is a US subsidiary of Lend Lease. Lend Lease Bovis was appointed construction manager in January 2002 with responsibility for debris removal, recovery, demolition work and temporary structure construction. The number of claimants who have brought proceedings against Bovis was currently about 15,347, but Lend Lease said the settlement would only become effective if certain conditions were satisfied. Shares in Lend Lease closed 0.69% lower at $8.60.
Also making news: Extract Resources Ltd (ASX:EXT) says its Rossing South project in the African nation of Namibia has the potential to be one of the world’s largest uranium mines. A feasibility study into the mine continues and Extract says it hopes to announce an updated resource in the third quarter of this year.
Zinc miner CBH Resources Ltd (ASX:CBH) has announced that Belgian metals group, Nyrstar, has raised its takeover offer by 44% to $0.195 per share. CBH rejected Nyrstar’s original offer of $0.135 per share last December, instead selling its Rasp Zinc mine to its largest shareholder, Toho Zinc.
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is in talks to sell its talc business. The company says a number of parties are interested in the sale and it hopes to close the deal within a year.
And BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) appears to be winning the war on how the steel industry buys its raw materials following news that Brazilian miner Vale has backed the miner on shorter term contracts.
In the best and worst performers: The best performing sector at close was the Energy index, up 68 points at 15,483. The worst performing sector was the Industrials index; falling 16 points at 3,945.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Energy World Corp, shares gaining 10.77% to $0.36. Shares in Eastern Star Gas and Cudeco also closed higher today.
The worst performing stock was Panoramic Resources, shares plunged 4.26% to $2.25. AWB and Billabong shares also closed lower today.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1,113.10 U.S an ounce and was down $18.55 on the week. Light crude is up $0.10 to $82.21 U.S a barrel. And the Aussie dollar is trading at US$91.62 and was up almost a cent on the week.
