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So the Yank bureaucrats were full of crap (what a surprise!) when they tried to convince everyone that they weren't still in the bailout business... it now becomes clear that the reason they didn't bail out Lehman directly is that they were getting ready to bail out AIG.
As you're all aware, I am absolutely convinced that the US - or its proxy, Israel - is going to attack Iran sometime this month. The tin-foil-hatter in me takes a strong view that it is this, and not 'global demand weakening', that has driven down the price of Crude Oil: the price is being taken down in anticipation of an explosive move up when the US attacks.
But the price of Crude is not the only consideration (and here we touch on the motivation behind the AIG bailout): what happens to the general insurance arm of AIG in the event of a massive blowback from an attack on Iran (or the false-flag event designed to garner public support in the US for such an attack)? With its balance sheet in tatters as a result of its mortgage insurance activities, it could not withstand any downside on its property, casualty and general insurance lines.
We all remember how September 11th panned out (here I speak of Sept 11th 2001, not the US-sponsored assassination of leftist Savadore Allende in Chile in 1973).
Anyhow... as Iwassaying... how it panned out.
In an eerie parallel of what would happen later to Saddam Hussein, the US government failed to satisfy a set of demands unilaterally imposed on it by a foreign agent (the demand that they leave the Middle East). This resulted - precisely as they were warned - in 'negative consequences'. this took the form of (according to the popular narrative) 19 Saudis launching a surprise "Shock and Awe" attack on the US's largest CIA field offices, 'taking out' out the US's most important urban C4 (command, control, communications and coordination) complex in New York.
Why bring that up, you might ask.
Well, that rather inexpensive display of realpolitik didn't have a massive impact on the global insurance market (despite the policy covering the twin towers being less than six months old). But a larger attack, coming at a time when the US economy has had to endure 8 years of government waste unlike any seen since Caligula, well, that would be a different story.
As an aside - the US should be ashamed of itself for putting a valid military target (using the US's own logic) in the middle of a big city... didn't they know that an attack on such a target could cause collateral damage?
But I digress, and I haven't got time for digressions. Let's just get on with today's action in Straya.
Major Market Indices
The broad market - the All Ordinaries (XAO) - declined gently, dropping 33.8 points (0.7%), finishing at 4766 points. The index hit an intraday high of 4864.3 at 10:45 am (yet again, trying to bounce), while the low for the day was 4749.7 - set at 3:05 pm Sydney time: let's call that low '4750-ish'.
Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.37bn units, 11.2% above its 10-day average. The ASX's daily listing of all stocks included 1307 different 3-letter FPO's which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade volume). Of these, 412 issues rose, with volume in rising issues totalling 511.3m units; decliners numbered 591 counters, and between them they traded aggregate declining volume of 747.5m shares.
Of the 491 All Ordinaries components, 182 rose while 232 fell. Volume was tilted in favour of the losers by a margin of 1.4:1, with 443.56m shares traded in gainers while 631.54m shares traded in the day's losers.
The Index that forms the cash basis for the SFE's Share Price Index Futures - the S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) - fell mildly, losing 32.3 points (0.68%), closing out the session at 4718.5 points.
| Name | Close | +/-(%) |
|---|---|---|
| All Ordinaries | 4766.00 | -33.80 (0.7%) |
| ASX 20 | 2679.20 | -29.10 (1.1%) |
| ASX 50 | 4617.60 | -45.00 (1.0%) |
| ASX 100 | 3831.70 | -27.70 (0.7%) |
| ASX 200 | 4718.50 | -32.30 (0.7%) |
| ASX 300 | 4709.70 | -31.80 (0.7%) |
| ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 4761.20 | 37.70 (0.8%) |
| ASX Small Ordinaries | 2626.20 | -5.80 (0.2%) |
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) - registered a loss of 29.1 points (1.07%), closing out the session at 2679.2 points.
Among the 20 big guns, the decliners just edged out the gainers - 10 advancing components were only just edged out (in numerical terms) by the decliners, but volume-wise the tilt was almost 2:1 against the gainers. Total volume n the index was 191.83m units; the 10 gainers had volume amounting to 65.52m shares, while the 10 decliners had volume traded totalling 126.31m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Brambles (BXB), +$0.43 (5.44%) to $8.33 on volume of 8.4 million shares;
- QBE Insurance Group (QBE), +$0.89 (3.83%) to $24.12 on volume of 4.6 million shares;
- CSL (CSL), +$0.95 (2.42%) to $40.25 on volume of 2 million shares;
- Stockland (SGP), +$0.10 (1.9%) to $5.36 on volume of 7.8 million shares; and
- Westfield Group (WDC), +$0.28 (1.64%) to $17.38 on volume of 7.9 million shares.
On the less salubrious side of the big-cap fence, the following stocks were the worst-performed within the index:
- Macquarie Group (MQG), -$2.87 (7.8%) to $33.93 on volume of 8.4 million shares;
- National Australia Bank (NAB), -$1.2 (5.48%) to $20.70 on volume of 13.9 million shares;
- Rio Tinto (RIO), -$4.85 (4.54%) to $102.00 on volume of 2.1 million shares;
- Suncorp-Metway (SUN), -$0.29 (3.17%) to $8.86 on volume of 11.1 million shares; and
- Australia And New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), -$0.36 (2.2%) to $16.00 on volume of 14.3 million shares.
At the other end of the market-cap spectrum lie the denizens of the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO). The small end of the market , while still dropping overall, did significantly better than its large-cap counterpart. The Small Ords slid modestly, falling 5.8 points (0.22%), closing out the session at 2626.2 points.
Among the stocks that make up the Small Caps index, 76 index components finished to the upside, and of the rest, 93 closed lower for the session.
The 194 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 396.74m units: volume in the 76 gainers totalling 160.72m shares, with trade totalling 208.95m units in the index's 93 declining components. The major percentage gainers within the index were- Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW), +$0.18 (19.77%) to $1.06 on volume of 15 million shares;
- Compass Resources (CMR), +$0.10 (18.87%) to $0.63 on volume of 795.7 thousand shares;
- Credit Corp Group (CCP), +$0.07 (9.56%) to $0.75 on volume of 20.3 thousand shares;
- Record Realty (RRT), +$0.00 (9.52%) to $0.02 on volume of 229 thousand shares; and
- St Barbara (SBM), +$0.02 (9.09%) to $0.24 on volume of 11.5 million shares.
In the red-zone of the little-stock index, the following list represents the biggest downers (in terms of percentage decline):
- Admiralty Resources NL (ADY), -$0.01 (16.47%) to $0.07 on volume of 33.2 million shares;
- City Pacific (CIY), -$0.03 (12.5%) to $0.18 on volume of 178.9 thousand shares;
- Great Southern (GTP), -$0.06 (11.96%) to $0.41 on volume of 3.2 million shares;
- HFA Holdings (HFA), -$0.1 (10.64%) to $0.84 on volume of 2.7 million shares; and
- Carnarvon Petroleum (CVN), -$0.03 (10%) to $0.27 on volume of 2.6 million shares.
Index Changes
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XAO | All Ordinaries | 4766 | -33.8 | -0.7 | 1119.4m |
| XFL | ASX 50 | 4617.6 | -45 | -0.97 | 405.2m |
| XJO | ASX 200 | 4718.5 | -32.3 | -0.68 | 962.6m |
| XKO | ASX 300 | 4709.7 | -31.8 | -0.67 | 1067.2m |
| XMD | ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 4761.2 | 37.7 | 0.8 | 265.2m |
| XSO | ASX Small Ordinaries | 2626.2 | -5.8 | -0.22 | 396.7m |
| XTL | ASX 20 | 2679.2 | -29.1 | -1.07 | 191.8m |
| XTO | ASX 100 | 3831.7 | -27.7 | -0.72 | 670.4m |
Market Breadth
| ASX20 | XTO | XJO | XAO | XSO | Market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advances | 10 | 48 | 89 | 182 | 76 | 412 |
| Declines | 10 | 51 | 99 | 232 | 93 | 591 |
| Advancing Volume | 65.5m | 273.8m | 403.8m | 443.6m | 160.7m | 511.3m |
| Declining Volume | 126.3m | 401m | 545m | 631.5m | 208.9m | 747.5m |
GICS Industry Indices
Among the 11 industry indices, the outcome favoured the upside, but only just - the 6 advancing sectors just triumphed the 5 losing sectors.
The best performing index was Utilities (XUJ), which added 138.5 points (2.95%) to 4836.5 points. The 10 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 62.11m units; 7 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 27.19m shares, while the 3 decliners had volume traded totalling 34.92m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group (BBW), +$0.18 (19.77%) to $1.06 on volume of 15 million shares;
- Duet Group (DUE), +$0.15 (5.36%) to $2.95 on volume of 2.2 million shares;
- Spark Infrastructure Group (SKI), +$0.06 (3.77%) to $1.65 on volume of 2.3 million shares;
- AGL Energy (AGK), +$0.50 (3.57%) to $14.49 on volume of 1.4 million shares; and
- APA Group (APA), +$0.07 (2.1%) to $3.41 on volume of 1.3 million shares.
Second in the index leadership stakes was Information Technology (XIJ), which gained 8.9 points (1.76%) to 514.4 points. The 2 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 2.67m units; today it was the big-gun in the index that rose...
- Computershare (CPU), +$0.19 (2.15%) to $9.04 on volume of 2.1 million shares.
The bronze medal for today goes to Healthcare (XHJ), which climbed 154.1 points (1.63%) to 9611.2 points. The 8 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 12.21m units; 6 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 8.58m shares, while the 2 decliners had volume traded totalling 3.63m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were
- Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SIP), +$0.04 (2.62%) to $1.37 on volume of 3 million shares;
- CSL (CSL), +$0.95 (2.42%) to $40.25 on volume of 2 million shares;
- Healthscope (HSP), +$0.05 (1.14%) to $4.45 on volume of 1 million shares;
- Ramsay Health Care (RHC), +$0.09 (0.84%) to $10.80 on volume of 702.4 thousand shares; and
- ResMed Inc. (RMD), +$0.04 (0.68%) to $5.89 on volume of 1.4 million shares.
The worst-performed index for the session was Materials (XMJ), which dipped 201.1 points (1.66%) to 11917.3 points. The 42 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 223.26m units; The 23 decliners had volume traded totalling 131.31m units, and 15 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 80.76m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Incitec Pivot (IPL), -$125.08 (94.76%) to $6.92 on volume of 4.1 million shares;
- Great Southern (GTP), -$0.06 (11.96%) to $0.41 on volume of 3.2 million shares;
- Alumina (AWC), -$0.31 (8.52%) to $3.33 on volume of 8.6 million shares;
- Panoramic Resources (PAN), -$0.14 (8.19%) to $1.57 on volume of 1.9 million shares; and
- Murchison Metals Ltd (MMX), -$0.11 (7.37%) to $1.32 on volume of 3.6 million shares.
Just missing out on the wooden spoon was Financials ex Property Trusts (XXJ), which slid 77.4 points (1.64%) to 4650.5 points. The 30 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 150.18m units; The 18 decliners had volume traded totalling 110.87m units, and 10 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 36.55m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Babcock & Brown (BNB), -$0.13 (12.38%) to $0.92 on volume of 23.6 million shares;
- HFA Holdings (HFA), -$0.1 (10.64%) to $0.84 on volume of 2.7 million shares;
- Tower Australia Group (TAL), -$0.25 (8.62%) to $2.65 on volume of 918.6 thousand shares;
- Macquarie Group (MQG), -$2.87 (7.8%) to $33.93 on volume of 8.4 million shares; and
- Bank Of Queensland (BOQ), -$0.9 (6.25%) to $13.50 on volume of 758.6 thousand shares.
Third-to-last amongst the sector indices was Consumer Discretionary (XDJ), which slid 7.1 points (0.42%) to 1673.9 points. The 24 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 50.7m units; The 15 decliners had volume traded totalling 33.88m units, and 8 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 12.19m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group (MCG), -$0.13 (4.61%) to $2.69 on volume of 2.3 million shares;
- Fairfax Media (FXJ), -$0.07 (2.46%) to $2.77 on volume of 5.7 million shares;
- Seven Network (SEV), -$0.17 (2.28%) to $7.28 on volume of 530.5 thousand shares;
- Consolidated Media Holdings (CMJ), -$0.06 (2.01%) to $2.93 on volume of 3 million shares; and
- Macquarie Media Group (MMG), -$0.05 (1.52%) to $3.24 on volume of 671.6 thousand shares.
Sector Indices
| Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XUJ | Utilities | 4836.5 | 138.5 | 2.95 | 62m |
| XIJ | Information Technology | 514.4 | 8.9 | 1.76 | 3m |
| XHJ | Healthcare | 9611.2 | 154.1 | 1.63 | 12m |
| XNJ | Industrials | 4644.5 | 45.3 | 0.98 | 130m |
| XEJ | Energy | 16265.2 | 86 | 0.53 | 70m |
| XPJ | Property Trusts | 1401.3 | 1.7 | 0.12 | 179m |
| XSJ | Consumer Staples | 7292.3 | -0.7 | -0.01 | 47m |
| XTJ | Telecommunications | 1415.7 | -0.9 | -0.06 | 48m |
| XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 1673.9 | -7.1 | -0.42 | 51m |
| XXJ | Financials ex Property Trusts | 4650.5 | -77.4 | -1.64 | 150m |
| XMJ | Materials | 11917.3 | -201.1 | -1.66 | 223m |
All Ordinaries Major Movers
All Ords Volume Leaders
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TLS | Telstra Corporation Limited. | 4.14 | -0.03 | -0.72 | 38.2m |
| OZL | OZ Minerals Limited | 1.38 | -0.03 | -1.78 | 38m |
| ADY | Admiralty Resources NL | 0.07 | -0.01 | -16.47 | 33.2m |
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.26 | -0.02 | -7.27 | 28.8m |
| CER | Centro Retail | 0.12 | 0.01 | 4.55 | 27.8m |
All Ords Percentage Gainers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBW | Babcock & Brown Wind Partners Group | 1.06 | 0.18 | 19.77 | 15m |
| AGG | Anglogold Limited | 6.00 | 0.96 | 19.05 | 5.3k |
| CMR | Compass Resources Limited | 0.63 | 0.10 | 18.87 | 795.7k |
| NHF | NIB Holdings Limited | 0.85 | 0.11 | 14.19 | 76.9k |
| AND | Andean Resources Limited | 1.00 | 0.11 | 11.73 | 257.5k |
All Ords Percentage Losers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | Incitec Pivot Limited | 6.92 | -125.08 | -94.76 | 4.1m |
| ADY | Admiralty Resources NL | 0.07 | -0.01 | -16.47 | 33.2m |
| CIY | City Pacific Limited | 0.18 | -0.03 | -12.5 | 178.9k |
| BNB | Babcock & Brown Limited | 0.92 | -0.13 | -12.38 | 23.6m |
| TOE | Toro Energy Limited | 0.22 | -0.03 | -12 | 856.1k |
