Rinker rumours drive trading

Speculation of a takeover bid for Rinker helped counter fears of a slump in new homes that combined with a fall in commodity prices to send the market into retreat after Thursday's record closing high.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.6 per cent, or 31.2 points, to 5358, wiping out almost all Thursday's gains.
Reports that Mexican giant Cemex, the world's third-largest cement producer, was planning to buy Rinker sent the stock up 83¢, to $14.70.
Since April, Rinker has fallen from a 12-month high of $21.44 on worries of a slowdown in the US, where it generates 80 per cent of earnings. But the country's biggest building materials maker shot up 6 per cent — Rinker's biggest one-day gain in six months — from about $13.40 in the last 10 minutes of trading. Three times the daily average of shares were traded, with most of the trading just before the close.
The rumours also helped rival building products maker James Hardie lift 8¢ to $7.60.
But Boral, Australia's biggest seller of building materials, slumped 28¢ to $7.18 after it announced a 15 per cent profit downgrade to $307.7 million. The slowdown in the US property market has added to Boral's pain, as the US provides about 30 per cent of Boral's earnings.
Paint maker Wattyl also said the weakening housing market could adversely affect its performance this year, which sent its share price down 10¢ to $2.85.
The Housing Industry of Australia is forecasting housing starts in Victoria will be flat because of interest rate concerns. Nationally, housing starts are expected to be down for the third consecutive year.
But Wise-owl.com analyst Imran Valibhoy said the slowdown in the Australian property market was good news for equities as it would change the flow of investor money away from property and into the sharemarket.
The spot price for West Texas crude oil fell 1.7 per cent to $US60.36 a barrel, which wiped 92¢ off Woodside, Australia's second-biggest oil producer, to $37.78. Santos, the third-biggest producer, tumbled 16¢ to $10.62.
A fall in the price of nickel and copper combined with some minor profit downgrades to send BHP Billiton down 42¢ to $27.70. Analysts have readjusted their forecasts and given the mining giant a profit range of $US12.5 billion to $US14.8 billion.
Rio Tinto lost $2.01 to $77.34, ahead of an announcement after the market closed that it would increase its buyback by $US3 billion to $US7 billion.
A potential legal battle over the increased costs Straits Resources faces trying to produce copper concentrate for Sempra Metals sent the stock sliding 9 per cent. Straits finished down 39¢ at $3.84.
ANZ continued its upward momentum of recent days. The stock lifted 11¢ to $28.86 after the bank reported a 16 per cent jump in net profit to $3.7 billion on Thursday.
Telstra rose 7¢ to $3.85 — its highest closing price since early August.
After rising during early trading, the Australian dollar ended steady at US76.34¢.
The increasing possibility of an interest rate rise next month pushed the Aussie upwards sharply during the week from last week's US76.02¢ close.