Uranium explorers only shining light

The sharemarket ended marginally lower yesterday after an erratic trading session ahead of today's announcement on interest rates.
The Reserve Bank is widely expected to lift the official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 6 per cent.
The market also seemed pleased, but not surprised, by the appointment of Reserve Bank deputy governor Glenn Stevens as its new head. Economists said he would continue the success of the central bank team that has overseen an unprecedented decade-long period of interest rate stability.
The ASX 200 index closed 4.7 points lower at 4981.3, while the All Ordinaries fell 3.2 to 4953.9.
CMC Markets analyst David Land pointed to uranium stocks as strong gainers, as Paladin Resources ended up 18c at $4.70 and Energy Resources of Australia rose 37c to $11.42.
"Despite high levels of volatility, big portions of the market see uranium stocks as the potential source of high growth," Mr Land said.
"The prospect of growth in the sector is only encouraged by discussion from the Government which seems to suggest a more favourable production outlook in the future."
Shares in Coles Myer continued to slide, falling 47c to $10.90, after unveiling plans on Monday to dump Bi-Lo as a separate supermarket chain and phase out Kmart as a stand-alone brand, a plan which chief executive John Fletcher said would slow growth next year.
"The company clearly believes that this strategy will deliver the best end results as they fight for market share in liquor and supermarkets," Mr Land said.
Upmarket retailer David Jones rose 4c to $3.06 and Woolworths dipped 4c to $19.
Securities in construction company Multiplex sank 4c to $3.53 after it revealed that London's new Wembley Stadium was now not expected to be ready to hold a major sporting event before June 2007.
Mining stocks were erratic: BHP Billiton fell 17c but Rio Tinto climbed 39c to $74.75.
Woodside Petroleum was off 46c to $42.33 after its first well of the new season off Mauritania came up a duster. Its partners in the field suffered too: Roc was down 11c to $4.23 and out of favour Hardman lost another 9c to close at $1.49.
Oil Search was down 11c to $4.01 but Beach lost half a cent to end at $1.695.
Goldminers shrugged off a weaker gold price, with Newcrest up 14c to $19.30 and Lihir 12c firmer at $2.89. Bendigo rose 2.5c to $1.62
Mr Land noted that despite the "fairly up and down" movements in the gold price in recent weeks some traders still see some upside in gold and are taking positions in the market accordingly.
Gold closed in Sydney at $US632.15, down $US6.10.
In banking, NAB was steady at $35.90 but Westpac rose 8c to $22.08, ANZ climbed 30c to $25.55 and the Commonwealth rose 25c to $45.05.
Qantas was also among the climbers, up 2c to $3.07, as was Telstra, up 3c at $3.85.