Interdum stultus opportuna loquitur...

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

OzRant: Two Decines in a Row? Amazing...

Note - from June 24th 2009, this blog has migrated from Blogger to a self-hosted version. Click here to go straight there.

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
CodeNameClose+/-%Volume
XAOAll Ordinaries4424.2-27.4-0.62%614.74m
XTLS&P/ASX 202375-16-0.67%127.62m
XFLS&P/ASX 504353.8-34.5-0.79%269.92m
XTOS&P/ASX 1003613.4-24.4-0.67%415.37m
XJOS&P/ASX 2004455.3-29.6-0.66%511.07m
XKOS&P/ASX 3004449.4-29.3-0.65%0
XMDS&P/ASX Mid-Cap 504488.8-0.9-0.02%0
XSOS&P/ASX Small Ordinaries2537.2-12.7-0.5%146.85m

All Ordinaries Market Internals

Market Breadth
ASX20XTOXJOXAOXSOMarket
Advances1215213662387
Declines197011922597542
Advancing Volume7.46m77.03m108.88m143.1747.67378.27
Declining Volume120.16m300.89m349.8m392.2884.65534.18

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
CodeGICS SectorClose+/-%Volume
XHJHealthcare576527.80.48%13.68m
XUJUtilities5197.3-0.5-0.01%3.53m
XSJConsumer Staples5786.6-9.5-0.16%28.67m
XPJProperty Trusts1844-5.3-0.29%57.33m
XNJIndustrials5346.3-18.1-0.34%82.45m
XIJInformation Technology440.8-1.8-0.41%7.37m
XDJConsumer Discretionary2333-10.1-0.43%31.37m
XFJFinancials5162.3-31.5-0.61%120.13m
XXJASX200 Financials ex Property Trusts5257.3-36.9-0.7%67.82m
XTJTelecommunications1692.5-13-0.76%40.65m
XMJMaterials8144.9-91.9-1.12%157.57m
XEJEnergy10085.4-181.4-1.77%18.16m

All Ordinaries Major Movers

All Ords Volume Leaders
CodeNameClose+/-%Volume
TLSTelstra Corporation4.72-0.04-0.84%38.79m
BHPBHP Billiton21.02-0.05-0.24%20.53m
LHGLihir Gold1.40.010.72%19.85m
IAGInsurance Australia Group5.56-0.09-1.59%18.57m
BILBrambles Industries8.890.121.37%16.1m
OXROxiana1.11-0.05-3.91%15.32m
All Ords Percentage Gainers
CodeNameClose+/-%Volume
HMEHome Building Society10111.11%11283
HTAHutchison Telecommunications (Australia)0.320.038.47%5.94m
MSTMetal Storm0.220.027.32%2.75m
GTGGenetic Technologies0.460.037.06%875023
SHVSelect Harvests11.70.76.36%38250
All Ords Percentage Decliners
CodeNameClose+/-%Volume
CNTCentamin Egypt0.3-0.03-9.09%500000
ARQArc Energy1.98-0.13-6.16%1.77m
MNDMonadelphous Group3.98-0.26-6.13%219823
AMCAmcor6.78-0.42-5.83%10.57m
WSAWestern Areas2.03-0.12-5.58%357919

Elsewhere in the Region...

Regional Indices
CountryNameClose+/-%Volume
New ZealandNZSE503376.26-11.15-0.33%42.67m
JapanNikkei 22512502.2629.330.24%0
KoreaKOSPI1094.21-21.63-1.94%331497
SingaporeStraits Times2286.62-3.04-0.13%0
Hong KongHang Seng14917.22-56.67-0.38%143.54m
MalaysiaKLSE Comp926.12.310.25%0