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You can imagine the shocked expression on my face when our little half-chimpanzee Prime Minister failed to express outrage at Pat Robertson's "Kill Chavez" statement. Of course, politicans never express anything about anything unless fed a question by a colleague or a journalist... still, I have no doubt that if Abu Bakr Bashir had made a similar comment (perhaps that the Indonesian Army should capture and imprison any western politician whose actions violated a nations sovereignty outside the boundaries of international law), little Chimp-man would have been all over the news denouncing it.
I've sent an e-mail to the Prime Minister's Office, and also the the office of the Leader of the Opposition, seeking a public statement about Robertson's actions ... which I will forward to George the Turd PUS, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I have little doubt that the response - if any - wil be a bromide, but nonetheless it will have to include a denunciation of "anything of this nature" or some other such tripe.
I also think that every news and current affairs show should be encouraged to cover the story; Today Tonight is all-too-keen to run smear pieces about relatively benign oung Muslims saying relatively benign things... let them sink their teeth into a genuine whackball fundamentalist for once. I encourage folks to send e-mails to any news organisation they are aware of, expressing a desire for this story to be covered.
Major Market Indices
How long has it been since there were two down days in a row? The RantBase - second only to the Flying Spaghetti Monster in terms of infallibility - points out that just last week there were two successive down days (Aug 17/18). Despite the relative temporal proximity of a couple of dud days, the RantBase (also called al-Rant-Qa'eda) points out that since July 7 (the days of the London Bombings) advancing days have outnumbered the declining days by exactly 2:1.
Well, to bad. The broad market - the ASX All Ordinaries (XAO) - fell by 27.40 points (-0.62%), finishing at 4424.20 points (4425-ish). The index hit an intraday high of 4451.60 (4450-ish) at the open, and its low was 4406.6 (4400-ish... well, weakly -ish), set just after 2:15 p.m. after the index had stabiised below 4410.
Total volume traded on the ASX was again solid, at 1.04 billion units - 0.6% above its 10-day average. Of the 483 stocks in the All Ords, 225 fell while 136 managed a gain. Volume was tilted in favour of the losers by a margin of 2.7:1, with 392.28million shares traded in losers while 143.17million shares traded in the day's gainers.
The Index that forms the cash basis for the SFE's Share Price Index Futures - the S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) - fell by 29.60 points (-0.66%), finishing at 4455.30 points.
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) - fell by 16.00 points (-0.67%), finishing at 2375.00 points. Within the index members, there was only 1 (Fosters') that rose, and 19 losers. Total volume in rising issues within the ASX20 amounted to a feeble 7.46m shares while volume in the losers totalled 120.16m units.
The major winners in the "big guns" were -
- Foster's Group (FGL), +$0.030 (0.53%) to $5.650 on volume of 7.46m shares. That's it...
The following stocks made up the biggest percentage losers in the big-guns:
- Amcor (AMC), -$0.42 (5.83%) to $6.78 on volume of 10.57m shares;
- Woodside Petroleum (WPL), -$0.62 (1.89%) to $32.18 on volume of 1.42m shares; and
- AMP Limited (AMP), -$0.11 (1.5%) to $7.22 on volume of 6.96m shares; and
- Woolworths (WOW), -$0.24 (1.44%) to $16.38 on volume of 2.44m shares; and
- St George Bank (SGB), -$0.34 (1.28%) to $26.27 on volume of 608,000 shares.
At the smaller end of the market's capitalisation scale, the ASX Small Ordinaries Index (XSO) fell by 12.70 points (-0.50%), finishing at 2537.20 points. The major winners in the "pop-guns" were -
- Genetic Technologies (GTG), +$0.030 (7.06%) to $0.455 on volume of 875,000 shares;
- Sirtex Medical (SRX), +$0.100 (4.76%) to $2.200 on volume of 14,000 shares; and
- Brazin (BRZ), +$0.080 (4.44%) to $1.880 on volume of 44,000 shares; and
- Healthscope (HSP), +$0.200 (3.64%) to $5.700 on volume of 320,000 shares; and
- Skilled Group (SKE), +$0.100 (3.42%) to $3.020 on volume of 494,000 shares.
The losingest-little-guys for the session were (in order of decline):
- Arc Energy (ARQ), -$0.130 (6.16%) to $1.980 on volume of 1.77m shares;
- Western Areas (WSA), -$0.120 (5.58%) to $2.030 on volume of 358,000 shares; and
- Macarthur Coal (MCC), -$0.380 (5.23%) to $6.890 on volume of 570,000 shares; and
- Austral Coal (AUO), -$0.075 (5.15%) to $1.380 on volume of 1,000 shares; and
- Redflex Holdings (RDF), -$0.150 (4.84%) to $2.950 on volume of 54,000 shares.
Index Changes | |||||
Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
XAO | All Ordinaries | 4424.2 | -27.4 | -0.62% | 614.74m |
XTL | S&P/ASX 20 | 2375 | -16 | -0.67% | 127.62m |
XFL | S&P/ASX 50 | 4353.8 | -34.5 | -0.79% | 269.92m |
XTO | S&P/ASX 100 | 3613.4 | -24.4 | -0.67% | 415.37m |
XJO | S&P/ASX 200 | 4455.3 | -29.6 | -0.66% | 511.07m |
XKO | S&P/ASX 300 | 4449.4 | -29.3 | -0.65% | 0 |
XMD | S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 4488.8 | -0.9 | -0.02% | 0 |
XSO | S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries | 2537.2 | -12.7 | -0.5% | 146.85m |
All Ordinaries Market Internals
Market Breadth | ||||||
ASX20 | XTO | XJO | XAO | XSO | Market | |
Advances | 1 | 21 | 52 | 136 | 62 | 387 |
Declines | 19 | 70 | 119 | 225 | 97 | 542 |
Advancing Volume | 7.46m | 77.03m | 108.88m | 143.17 | 47.67 | 378.27 |
Declining Volume | 120.16m | 300.89m | 349.8m | 392.28 | 84.65 | 534.18 |
S&P/ASX200 GICS Sector Indices
The top sector for the day - in fact, the only sector to post a gain - was XHJ Healthcare which gained 0.48% to 5765.00 points. The sector was helped by
- Resmed Inc (RMD), +$0.580 (6.21%) to $9.920 on volume of 764,000 shares;
- Healthscope (HSP), +$0.200 (3.64%) to $5.700 on volume of 320,000 shares;
- Chemeq (CMQ), +$0.040 (3.24%) to $1.275 on volume of 204,000 shares;
- Invocare (IVC), +$0.130 (3.06%) to $4.380 on volume of 549,000 shares; and
- Sonic Healthcare (SHL), +$0.390 (2.67%) to $15.000 on volume of 1.9m shares.
Second in the sector leadership? Who gives a shit - they fell. Ditto for third.
The worst-performed sector today was XEJ Energy which lost 1.77% to 10085.40 points. The sector was dragged lower by
- Arc Energy (ARQ), -$0.130 (6.16%) to $1.980 on volume of 1.77m shares;
- Tap Oil (TAP), -$0.100 (3.27%) to $2.960 on volume of 656,000 shares;
- Roc Oil Company (ROC), -$0.060 (2.36%) to $2.480 on volume of 722,000 shares;
- Oil Search (OSH), -$0.070 (1.94%) to $3.530 on volume of 5.31m shares; and
- Santos (STO), -$0.210 (1.9%) to $10.840 on volume of 2.81m shares.
Just in front of last place on the sector table was XMJ Materials which lost 1.12% to 8144.90 points. The sector was pulled down by
- Amcor (AMC), -$0.420 (5.83%) to $6.780 on volume of 10.57m shares;
- James Hardie Industries N.V. (JHX), -$0.450 (5.06%) to $8.450 on volume of 4.04m shares;
- Oxiana (OXR), -$0.045 (3.91%) to $1.105 on volume of 15.32m shares;
- Boral (BLD), -$0.220 (3.12%) to $6.830 on volume of 6.17m shares; and
- Gunns (GNS), -$0.110 (2.97%) to $3.590 on volume of 1.15m shares.
Sector Indices | |||||
Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
XHJ | Healthcare | 5765 | 27.8 | 0.48% | 13.68m |
XUJ | Utilities | 5197.3 | -0.5 | -0.01% | 3.53m |
XSJ | Consumer Staples | 5786.6 | -9.5 | -0.16% | 28.67m |
XPJ | Property Trusts | 1844 | -5.3 | -0.29% | 57.33m |
XNJ | Industrials | 5346.3 | -18.1 | -0.34% | 82.45m |
XIJ | Information Technology | 440.8 | -1.8 | -0.41% | 7.37m |
XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 2333 | -10.1 | -0.43% | 31.37m |
XFJ | Financials | 5162.3 | -31.5 | -0.61% | 120.13m |
XXJ | ASX200 Financials ex Property Trusts | 5257.3 | -36.9 | -0.7% | 67.82m |
XTJ | Telecommunications | 1692.5 | -13 | -0.76% | 40.65m |
XMJ | Materials | 8144.9 | -91.9 | -1.12% | 157.57m |
XEJ | Energy | 10085.4 | -181.4 | -1.77% | 18.16m |
All Ordinaries Major Movers
All Ords Volume Leaders | |||||
Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
TLS | Telstra Corporation | 4.72 | -0.04 | -0.84% | 38.79m |
BHP | BHP Billiton | 21.02 | -0.05 | -0.24% | 20.53m |
LHG | Lihir Gold | 1.4 | 0.01 | 0.72% | 19.85m |
IAG | Insurance Australia Group | 5.56 | -0.09 | -1.59% | 18.57m |
BIL | Brambles Industries | 8.89 | 0.12 | 1.37% | 16.1m |
OXR | Oxiana | 1.11 | -0.05 | -3.91% | 15.32m |
All Ords Percentage Gainers | |||||
Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
HME | Home Building Society | 10 | 1 | 11.11% | 11283 |
HTA | Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) | 0.32 | 0.03 | 8.47% | 5.94m |
MST | Metal Storm | 0.22 | 0.02 | 7.32% | 2.75m |
GTG | Genetic Technologies | 0.46 | 0.03 | 7.06% | 875023 |
SHV | Select Harvests | 11.7 | 0.7 | 6.36% | 38250 |
All Ords Percentage Decliners | |||||
Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
CNT | Centamin Egypt | 0.3 | -0.03 | -9.09% | 500000 |
ARQ | Arc Energy | 1.98 | -0.13 | -6.16% | 1.77m |
MND | Monadelphous Group | 3.98 | -0.26 | -6.13% | 219823 |
AMC | Amcor | 6.78 | -0.42 | -5.83% | 10.57m |
WSA | Western Areas | 2.03 | -0.12 | -5.58% | 357919 |
Elsewhere in the Region...
Regional Indices | |||||
Country | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
New Zealand | NZSE50 | 3376.26 | -11.15 | -0.33% | 42.67m |
Japan | Nikkei 225 | 12502.26 | 29.33 | 0.24% | 0 |
Korea | KOSPI | 1094.21 | -21.63 | -1.94% | 331497 |
Singapore | Straits Times | 2286.62 | -3.04 | -0.13% | 0 |
Hong Kong | Hang Seng | 14917.22 | -56.67 | -0.38% | 143.54m |
Malaysia | KLSE Comp | 926.1 | 2.31 | 0.25% | 0 |