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Come Out and Play by The Offspring, was one of the first rock songs that I 'got' in terms of its political undertones... I understood from the lyric that the band are social conservatives (in the sense of being in favour of personal responsibility for adverse outcomes that occur as a result of personal stupidity).
The same is true for other songs by the same group - "Hit That" being the next most obvious.
In the context of the time, Come Out and Play was a pretty revolutionary song - kind of a political antidote to Midnight Oil/U2 Social Justice burblings.
It was only later that I discovered that the lead singer from The Offspring is almost a doppelganger for a friend of mine from LA - a paramedic from Las Luces called Doug Lissner. I had lost track of Doogie for some years, but he was easy enough to track down.
Anyhow - enough of rekindled friendships; more on the Doog when push comes to shove.
As to this morning's USRant, it disappeared in a fit of pique.
I had crafted quite a long blather (but little in the way of prefatory remarks), and then it was time to sticky-tape it into the appropriate hole in the internets tubes. So I went to the source tab, selected the appropriate bit, and hit what I thought was going to be Control-C.
Fat fingers supervened, and I hit Control-V, which pasted in the contents of the paste buffer in place of the HTML source for the USRant. (funnily enough, it was the source for the prior day's OzRant).
Aaaargh, I cried (along with some other outpourings of her Majesty's Finest - most of which began with F or C).
No biggie, I thought (after my blood pressure returned from the stratosphere)... Control-Z cures many a sin.
Wrong... not on this occasion. Control-Z (Undo) told me to bugger off.
In short, I had lost the entire Rant. I knew that the tables and so forth could be re-generated in seconds, but replicating the lost Wisdom would take half an hour.
Anyhow... there was a lot more F'ing and C'ing and cursing of whomever invented the keyboard shortcut system that puts Cut, Copy and Paste right next to one another. And a special place in Hell needs to be reserved for whomever decided that Undo was not going to work in Kompozer's Source tab.
And there ends the tale of the Missing USRant for November 6th...
Major Market Indices
The broad market - the All Ordinaries (XAO) - slid pretty savagely, posting a loss of 180.8 points (4.22%), finishing at 4106.5 points. The index hit an intraday high of 4153.5 at 12:13 pm, while the low for the day was 4103.1 - set at 2:28 pm Sydney time.
Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.14bn units, 8% below its 10-day average of 1.24bn shares.
The ASX's daily listing of all stocks included 1051 different 3-letter FPO's which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade volume). Of these, 189 issues rose, with volume in rising issues totalling 216m units; there were 666 declining stocks, which traded aggregate declining volume of 788.5m shares.
Of the 493 All Ordinaries components, 63 rose while 353 fell. Volume was tilted in favour of the losers by a margin of 3.9:1, with 177.51m shares traded in gainers while 692.96m 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) - dipped rather savagely, losing 186.9 points (4.31%), closing out the session at 4149.7 points.
| Name | Close | +/-(%) |
|---|---|---|
| All Ordinaries | 4106.50 | -180.80 (4.2%) |
| ASX 20 | 2511.50 | -116.50 (4.4%) |
| ASX 50 | 4193.40 | -191.30 (4.4%) |
| ASX 100 | 3415.50 | -151.90 (4.3%) |
| ASX 200 | 4149.70 | -186.90 (4.3%) |
| ASX 300 | 4127.50 | -185.00 (4.3%) |
| ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 3728.00 | -134.20 (3.5%) |
| ASX Small Ordinaries | 1942.70 | -94.50 (4.6%) |
The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX 20 Leaders (XTL) - were about as popular as a red-haired stepchild, sliding 116.5 points (4.43%), closing out the session at 2511.5 points.
The 21 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 140.08m units; 3 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 49.32m shares. The 18 decliners had volume traded totalling 90.76m units. The only gainers within the index were
- Foster's Group (FGL), +$0.24 (4.1%) to $6.09 on volume of 16.8 million shares;
- Telstra Corporation (TLS), +$0.03 (0.72%) to $4.21 on volume of 24.3 million shares; and
- Brambles (BXB), +$0.04 (0.47%) to $8.58 on volume of 8.2 million shares.
On the less salubrious side of the big-cap fence, the following stocks were the worst-performed within the index:
- ANZ Banking Group (ANZ), -$2.05 (10.79%) to $16.95 on volume of 15.8 million shares;
- Macquarie Group (MQG), -$3.2 (9.14%) to $31.80 on volume of 1.5 million shares;
- RIO Tinto (RIO), -$7.56 (8.73%) to $79.04 on volume of 1.7 million shares;
- Stockland (SGP), -$0.38 (8.17%) to $4.27 on volume of 7.6 million shares; and
- Westfield Group (WDC), -$1.3 (7.88%) to $15.20 on volume of 6.3 million shares.
At the other end of the market-cap spectrum lie the denizens of the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO). The Small Ords copped a hiding, sliding 94.5 points (4.64%), closing out the session at 1942.7 points.
Among the stocks that make up the Small Caps index, 22 index components finished to the upside, and of the rest, 168 closed lower for the session.
The 207 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 269.76m units: volume in the 22 gainers totalling 20.59m shares, with trade totalling 227.81m units in the index's 168 declining components. The major percentage gainers within the index were- Moly Mines (MOL), +$0.07 (17.57%) to $0.44 on volume of 883.3 thousand shares;
- Henderson Group PLC (HGG), +$0.16 (11.43%) to $1.56 on volume of 3.7 million shares;
- Australian Wealth Mgt (AUW), +$0.05 (5.35%) to $0.99 on volume of 1.1 million shares;
- Ridley Corporation (RIC), +$0.04 (4.65%) to $0.90 on volume of 231.9 thousand shares; and
- Lion Selection (LST), +$0.04 (3.77%) to $1.10 on volume of 17.9 thousand shares.
In the red-zone of the little-stock index, the following list represents the biggest downers (in terms of percentage decline):
- Macmahon Holdings (MAH), -$0.23 (19.66%) to $0.94 on volume of 2.8 million shares;
- Ausenco (AAX), -$0.94 (18.65%) to $4.10 on volume of 394.9 thousand shares;
- Albidon (ALB), -$0.11 (17.95%) to $0.48 on volume of 967.1 thousand shares;
- Atlas Iron (AGO), -$0.17 (17.84%) to $0.76 on volume of 1.8 million shares; and
- PanAust Ltd (PNA), -$0.05 (16.98%) to $0.22 on volume of 11.5 million shares.
Index Changes
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XAO | All Ordinaries | 4106.5 | -180.8 | -4.22 | 947.7m |
| XFL | ASX 50 | 4193.4 | -191.3 | -4.36 | 329.7m |
| XJO | ASX 200 | 4149.7 | -186.9 | -4.31 | 802.8m |
| XKO | ASX 300 | 4127.5 | -185 | -4.29 | 901.3m |
| XMD | ASX Mid-Cap 50 | 3728 | -134.2 | -3.47 | 307.8m |
| XSO | ASX Small Ordinaries | 1942.7 | -94.5 | -4.64 | 263.7m |
| XTL | ASX 20 | 2511.5 | -116.5 | -4.43 | 132.5m |
| XTO | ASX 100 | 3415.5 | -151.9 | -4.26 | 637.5m |
Market Breadth
| ASX20 | XTO | XJO | XAO | XSO | Market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advances | 3 | 15 | 20 | 63 | 22 | 189 |
| Declines | 18 | 85 | 181 | 353 | 168 | 666 |
| Advancing Volume | 49.3m | 151.4m | 158.9m | 177.5m | 20.6m | 216m |
| Declining Volume | 90.8m | 441.4m | 604.3m | 693m | 227.8m | 788.5m |
GICS Industry Indices
Among the 11 industry indices, today's market action was dominated by sectoral declines - only one sector managed a gain for the day.
The only index to gain was Telecommunications (XTJ), which added a scant 0.6 points (0.04%) to 1407 points. The 3 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 33.49m units; there was only one stock that gained,. and it traded total volume of 24.3m shares, while the 2 decliners had volume traded totalling 9.19m units. The only gainer was Telstra Corporation (TLS), +$0.03 (0.72%) to $4.21 on volume of 24.3 million shares.
The worst-performed index for the session was Materials (XMJ), which dipped 717.9 points (7.23%) to 9217 points. The 45 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 166.42m units; The 43 decliners had volume traded totalling 157.13m units, and 2 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 9.29m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Atlas Iron (AGO), -$0.17 (17.84%) to $0.76 on volume of 1.8 million shares;
- PanAust Ltd (PNA), -$0.05 (16.98%) to $0.22 on volume of 11.5 million shares;
- Equinox Minerals (EQN), -$0.28 (15.73%) to $1.50 on volume of 1.3 million shares;
- Platinum Australia (PLA), -$0.12 (13.61%) to $0.73 on volume of 1.1 million shares; and
- Kagara Zinc (KZL), -$0.1 (12.67%) to $0.66 on volume of 2.4 million shares.
Just missing out on the wooden spoon was Consumer Discretionary (XDJ), which slid 84.1 points (6.06%) to 1302.6 points. The 24 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 39.94m units; The 21 decliners had volume traded totalling 38.44m units, and 2 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 1.47m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- News Corporation Inc (Voting CDI) (NWS), -$3.4 (21.38%) to $12.50 on volume of 7 million shares;
- Austar United Communications (AUN), -$0.07 (7.82%) to $0.83 on volume of 638.9 thousand shares;
- Billabong International (BBG), -$0.86 (6.94%) to $11.54 on volume of 515.6 thousand shares;
- Fairfax Media (FXJ), -$0.14 (6.52%) to $1.94 on volume of 6.2 million shares; and
- West Australian Newspapers Holdings (WAN), -$0.39 (5.83%) to $6.30 on volume of 356.3 thousand shares.
Third-to-last amongst the sector indices was Property Trusts (XPJ), which slid 57.2 points (5.31%) to 1019.3 points. The 21 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 260.75m units; The 17 decliners had volume traded totalling 154.82m units, and 3 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 79.52m shares, The major percentage decliners within the index were
- Abacus Property Group (ABP), -$0.05 (15.62%) to $0.27 on volume of 5.2 million shares;
- Tishman Speyer Office Fund (TSO), -$0.06 (13.75%) to $0.35 on volume of 3 million shares;
- Centro Retail (CER), -$0.02 (13.04%) to $0.10 on volume of 23.5 million shares;
- Apn/Uka European Retail Property Group (AEZ), -$0.02 (12.5%) to $0.11 on volume of 1.8 million shares; and
- ING Office Fund (IOF), -$0.15 (12.29%) to $1.04 on volume of 2.1 million shares.
Sector Indices
| Code | GICS Sector | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XTJ | Telecommunications | 1407 | 0.6 | 0.04 | 33m |
| XHJ | Healthcare | 9058.3 | -114.6 | -1.25 | 8m |
| XSJ | Consumer Staples | 6977.1 | -90.6 | -1.28 | 35m |
| XNJ | Industrials | 3848.3 | -105.4 | -2.67 | 74m |
| XIJ | Information Technology | 461.6 | -14.4 | -3.03 | 2m |
| XUJ | Utilities | 4686 | -176.1 | -3.62 | 50m |
| XEJ | Energy | 13628.3 | -548.6 | -3.87 | 59m |
| XXJ | Financials ex Property Trusts | 4627.6 | -210.4 | -4.35 | 91m |
| XPJ | Property Trusts | 1019.3 | -57.2 | -5.31 | 261m |
| XDJ | Consumer Discretionary | 1302.6 | -84.1 | -6.06 | 40m |
| XMJ | Materials | 9217 | -717.9 | -7.23 | 166m |
All Ordinaries Major Movers
All Ords Volume Leaders
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MGR | Mirvac Group | 1.30 | 0.31 | 31.47 | 38.9m |
| GMG | Goodman Group | 1.00 | -0.05 | -4.31 | 35.7m |
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.14 | -0.06 | -28.95 | 34.3m |
| DXS | Dexus Property Group | 0.80 | 0.04 | 5.26 | 31.4m |
| OZL | OZ Minerals | 0.95 | -0.12 | -11.21 | 28.5m |
All Ords Percentage Gainers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MGR | Mirvac Group | 1.30 | 0.31 | 31.47 | 38.9m |
| MOL | Moly Mines | 0.44 | 0.07 | 17.57 | 883.3k |
| SKT | SKY Network Television | 4.00 | 0.53 | 15.27 | 1.8m |
| HGG | Henderson Group PLC | 1.56 | 0.16 | 11.43 | 3.7m |
| SHV | Select Harvests | 4.25 | 0.35 | 8.97 | 14.9k |
All Ords Percentage Losers
| Code | Name | Close | +/- | % | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABS | ABC Learning Centres | 0.00 | 0.00 | 38k | |
| BBI | Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group | 0.14 | -0.06 | -28.95 | 34.3m |
| AHE | Automotive Holdings Group | 0.68 | -0.22 | -24.44 | 51.3k |
| NWS | News Corporation Inc (Voting CDI) | 12.50 | -3.40 | -21.38 | 7m |
| MAH | Macmahon Holdings | 0.94 | -0.23 | -19.66 | 2.8m |
