Dow rebounds after meltdown

Stocks rose Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke helped ease investor concerns following a brutal day on Wall Street.
The 30-share Dow industrials (up 63.37 to 12,279.61, Charts) added about 0.7 percent but was off its session high. The broader S&P 500 (up 9.56 to 1,408.60, Charts) jumped 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq (up 13.50 to 2,421.36, Charts) added 0.7 percent with about 2-1/2 hours left in the session.
A man passes the famed bronze bull in New York's financial district, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007. The Dow fell 416.02 points, or 3.29 percent, to 12,216.24 on Tuesday.

The gains come on the heels of a massive selloff. The Dow tumbled 416 points Tuesday, or 3.3 percent, its largest single-day point loss since the day after the stock market reopened after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Trading was volatile Wednesday. Stocks edged higher after the market open and then reversed course, only to turn higher when Bernanke commented on the market in his appearance on Capitol Hill.
The markets seem to be "working well" and are functioning normally, Bernanke told a House panel. The selloff also hasn't altered the Fed's view on U.S. economic growth, he added.
The Dow climbed more than 100 points on Bernanke's comments, but pared some of those gains early in the afternoon.
Survive the market drop
Stocks tumbled around the world Tuesday as investors eyed a big drop in Chinese shares and signs of economic weakness.
A computer glitch also impacted the reporting of the Dow Jones industrial average, making the big decline in the United States appear even more dramatic.
The sharp drop has reminded investors that the stock market is a risky place, said Edgar Peters, chief investment officer at PanAgora Asset Management. "There is a rising awareness of risk, and there is probably going to be a certain amount of volatility in the marketplace now that wasn't there before," he said.
Global stock markets struggled to bounce back. Markets in Japan, Hong Kong and Europe remained under pressure, although the Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes rebounded almost 4 percent in China.
Investors had plenty of economic news to sift through Wednesday. A report showed new home sales tumbled 16 percent in January, the latest sign of weakness in the battered real estate market. Economists had forecast a narrower drop.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, rose 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, versus an earlier estimate of 3.5 percent growth. The reading was just a shade below average forecasts.
Buy, sell or hold?
In the Dow, 22 components rose and 9 fell. All 30 stocks on the blue-chip index declined on Tuesday.
One of the biggest gainers Wednesday was drugmaker Merck (Charts), whose stock rose 3 percent after it raised its full-year earnings forecast.
Another winner was American Express (up $1.20 to $56.79, Charts), which jumped 2.4 percent after Friedman, Billings, Ramsey raised its rating on the company to "outperform" from "market perform."
Elsewhere, Sprint Nextel (up $1.27 to $19.72, Charts) climbed 5 percent after the company reported earnings in line with estimates and amid ongoing takeover speculation.
Home builder shares sank amid concerns about the housing slump. Hovnanian Enterprises (down $0.79 to $31.18, Charts), KB Home (down $0.68 to $49.41, Charts) and Toll Brothers (down $0.57 to $30.01, Charts) all declined.
Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers by a margin of 2 to 1 on volume of 1.3 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a margin of 4 to 3 as 1.7 billion shares changed hands.
U.S. light crude oil for April delivery fell 4 cents to $61.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Treasury prices, which soared Tuesday as equities plunged, retreated. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose to 4.56 percent, up from 4.51 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar rebounded against the euro and the yen.

Global jitters hit home

The Australian sharemarket has suffered its biggest one-day fall in more than five years after a sell-off on China's stock exchange sent shockwaves around the globe.
Fears the Chinese government would halt speculative investment led to a 9 per cent decline on China's Shanghai Composite Index, and spooked investors, who punished companies exposed to Chinese demand.
The ASX 200 Index closed 161.3 points lower, or 2.69 per cent, at 5832.5, after falling as much as 3 per cent during the day.
The All Ordinaries tumbled 161.1 points to 5816.5.
For both indices, it was the biggest one-day fall since September 17, 2001, when the ASX 200 lost 4.7 per cent and the All Ords 4.8 per cent. On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract closed 196 points lower at 5802.
But with the economy in great shape, Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the pain was expected to be short-lived.
"This sort of day is a day when you're looking to buy rather than looking to sell," he said. "I think our market will be [up] about 10 per cent this year, so we're going to be zigzagging on the way to get there, and we'll have our ups and we'll have our downs."
In the US overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 416.02 points, or 3.29 per cent, to 12,216.24, and the S&P 500 fell 50.33 points, or 3.47 per cent, to 1399.04.
Locally, the big miners took a walloping. BHP Billiton dropped $1.72 to $27.13 and rival Rio Tinto plunged $4.01 to $75.60. Woodside Petroleum fell $1.04 to $37.26 as oil stablemate Santos slipped 31c to $9.36 and Oil Search lost 21c to $3.54.
In banking, the Commonwealth Bank sank 70c to $49.96, National Australia Bank fell 32c to $40.36, Westpac was down 54c to $25.46, and ANZ dropped 42c to $29.30.
Woolworths was a rare bright spot, rising 46c to $27.20, a day after a bumper first-half result from the grocery group, while rival Coles slipped 26c to $15.36.
Harvey Norman, the furniture and electronics retailer, dipped 6c to $4.35 after reporting a more than one-third gain in first-half net profit on the same period a year ago.
Property group Lend Lease fell 36c to $18.05 following a flat interim net profit.
Energy entity Alinta posted a 26 per cent drop in annual profit. Its shares fell 20c to $14.25.
Macquarie Media fell 23c to $4.59, despite a big jump in first-half net profit to $38 million.

Brutal day on Wall Street

Brutal day on Wall Street
Dow tumbles 416, biggest one-day point loss since 2001, as investors eye China, drop in durable orders.
By Alexandra Twin, CNNMoney.com senior writer
February 27 2007: 6:57 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks slumped Tuesday on worries about economic growth at home and abroad, sending the Dow industrials to their biggest point drop since the day the market reopened after the Sept. 11 attacks.
A big decline in Chinese stocks, weakness in some key readings on the U.S. economy and news that Vice President Dick Cheney was the apparent target in a Taliban suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan all fueled the selling on Wall Street.
A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the closing minutes of Tuesday's tumultuous session.




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The Dow Jones industrial average (down 416.02 to 12,216.24, Charts) tumbled 416.02 points, the biggest point loss since Sept. 17, 2001, when the 30-share index tumbled nearly 685 points.
It was the seventh biggest one-day point drop ever for the Dow. On a percentage basis, the Dow lost about 3.3 percent - its biggest one-day percentage loss since March 2003.
The broader S&P 500 (down 50.33 to 1,399.04, Charts) index fell about 3.5 percent - its worst one-day percentage loss since March 2003.
The Nasdaq (down 96.66 to 2,407.86, Charts) composite tumbled 3.9 percent in its biggest percentage drop since early December 2002.
Treasury bonds rallied as investors sought a safe place to park their money while the dollar fell. Oil prices inched higher and gold tumbled as traders bet that slower growth in China would put less upward pressure on commodity prices worldwide.
Tuesday's selloff: Buy, sell or hold?
"The selloff demonstrates somewhat starkly the inter-connectedness of stock markets around the world," said Hugh Johnson, chief strategist at ThomasLloyd Global Asset Management.
"Markets can decline in one seemingly isolated part of the world and that decline can be transmitted to other parts of the world through the psychology," he said.
The slump in world markets exacerbated concerns that Wall Street is due for a selloff after a nearly eight-month rally that has sent the Dow industrials to record highs and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to more than 6-year highs.
Market veterans have been looking for a stock selloff for some months now due to the combination of slowing economic and earnings growth expected this year, said Harry Clark, CEO at Clark Capital Management.
Trying to limit the declines, the New York Stock Exchange said it imposed trading curbs at around 1 p.m. ET with the Dow off about 200 points.
But then briefly, just before 3 p.m., the Dow appeared to abruptly drop another 200 points, to show a decline of 546 points. But the decline came partly from a computer glitch due to heavy trading volume, according to a Dow Jones spokesman.
Survive the market drop
Although some analysts have been calling for a pullback of about 10 percent for the market, Clark said a smaller drop is more likely. "We'll probably see a decline of about 4 or 5 percent and then it will be done," Clark said, noting that a lot of the selling will be washed out within the next week or so as the shock wears off.
ThomasLloyd Global's Johnson agreed that the selling should ease. But markets will "continue to be vulnerable to big decisions by big policy-makers in big places like China," he said.
Additionally, the Russell 2000 (down 31.03 to 792.66, Charts) small-cap index lost almost 3.8 percent, while the Dow Jones Transportation (Charts) average lost 3.4 percent.
The selling started overseas when a key gauge of Chinese stocks slumped 8.8 percent in Shanghai Tuesday - the worst one-day selloff in a decade - on concerns that the government would interfere to cool the speculation that drove the market up nearly 130 percent last year. (Full story).
Other Asian markets slumped in tandem. European shares also tumbled.
A morning report in the United States then showed a steeper-than-expected decline in durable goods orders in January, adding to concerns about slowing economic growth.
Slowing growth ultimately drags on corporate profits, making stocks more expensive relative to earnings.
For more on the day's economic news including the latest on the housing market, click here.
More on the markets
Among individual issues, all 30 components of the Dow Jones industrial average fell.
The biggest decliners were Alcoa (down $1.57 to $33.79, Charts), Caterpillar (down $2.43 to $64.83, Charts), Citigroup (down $2.08 to $50.60, Charts), Walt Disney (down $2.01 to $33.10, Charts), General Motors (down $1.82 to $32.15, Charts), Procter & Gamble (down $3.19 to $61.25, Charts) and Exxon Mobil (down $3.57 to $71.83, Charts).
The S&P 500's biggest decliner was Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold (down $6.17 to $55.75, Charts), which lost just short of 10 percent. It was one of a number of gold stocks that slumped on the session, contributing to a decline of 7.5 percent for the Amex Gold Bugs (down $27.10 to $334.72, Charts) index.
Freeport was one of 498 stocks in the S&P 500 that declined. The lone standouts to the upside: natural gas producer Questar (up $1.18 to $82.95, Charts), which released positive test results and gained 1.4 percent, and RadioShack (up $2.68 to $25.13, Charts), which reported higher-than-expected earnings and surged 12 percent.
In other news, Apple Computer (Charts) declined after it said late Monday that its Apple TV will be delayed until mid-March.
Nordstrom (down $4.30 to $52.30, Charts) slipped after reporting weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.
Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners trounced advancers by almost 6 to 1 on volume of 2.34 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners by more than 9 to 1 on volume of 3.06 billion shares.
Check world markets
In addition to the durable goods report, the morning brought the latest on housing and consumer confidence.
Existing home sales grew at a faster-than-expected pace in January, in a report that also showed the pace of sales dropped from a year ago. The median price of a home sold in January was down versus a year ago. (Full story).
Another report showed that consumer confidence saw a surprise rise in February versus forecasts for a drop.
Investors were also still digesting Monday reports that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says the economy could fall into a recession by the end of 2007. (Full story).
Tuesday kicked off a busy week for economic news, with reports due later in the week on fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth, new home sales, personal income and spending and the manufacturing sector.
Also impacting the market Tuesday: news of a suicide bombing attack at the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan during a visit by Dick Cheney. The attack killed at least 23 people. (Full story).
In Iraq, a bomb that exploded near a soccer field killed 18 children and wounded at least 25 others.
Treasury prices rallied as investors sought safety, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.51 percent from 4.62 percent late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and the yen following the durable goods orders report.
U.S. light crude oil for April delivery rose 7 cents to $61.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of oil rose for the last four sessions.
COMEX gold for April delivery fell $2.60 to settle at $687.20 an ounce.

Profits taken as profits dwindle

The stock exchange fell back through the 6000-point level yesterday as a torrid reporting season begins to wind down, coupled with a negative lead from Wall Street.
The ASX 200 index lost 50.2 points to 5993.8, while the All Ordinaries was 44.3 points weaker at 5977.6.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract was down 49 points to 5998 on a volume of 22,775 contracts.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market had been operating at breakneck speed since the start of the new year and was now heading for a breather.
"This pattern will probably continue for the next few months as a lot of stocks go ex dividend, and that tends to weigh on the market," Mr Heffernan said.
He said the market had run out of "blockbuster" companies to announce their results so "there was no petrol coming from company reports".
Woolworths got a 54c boost to $26.74 as it lifted its annual earnings guidance after a 28 per cent increase in first-half profit.
Rival supermarket retailer Coles, whose board is considering a sale of the business, gave up 6c to $15.62.
Harvey Norman, which delivers its first-half result today, picked up 5c to $4.41.
BHP Billiton, which has risen about $5 over the past month, shed 47c to $28.85. Rio Tinto lost 50c to $79.61 but Zinifex added 20c to $17.90.
News Corp improved 5c to $31.50 and its non-voting scrip firmed 10c to $29.92.
Publishing & Broadcasting dipped 10c to $19.82, and Fairfax Mediafell 5c to $4.86.
Telstra pulled back 6c to $4.33 and its instalment receipts weakened 5c to $2.89.
The major banks contributed to the weaker bourse, with all four losing ground, led by the CBA's 65c drop to $50.66. NAB fell 47c to $40.68, ANZ 32c to $29.72 and Westpac 16c to $26.
Newcrest soared $1.32 to $23.87 as its chief executive, Ian Smith, said copper and gold prices would remain strong over the next 18 months. The big goldminer posted a first half net profit of $37 million, down from $74.2 million in the corresponding period but profit after tax before a hedging restructure gained 5 per cent to $84 million.
Other golds did not fare as well, with Lihir losing 11c to $3.46 and Newmont steady at $5.94. Junior explorer Jervois Mining was the most traded stock, with 185.67 million shares changing hands worth $6.3 million.
The company's shares slipped 0.7c to 3.2c.

Market selloff: Year of the bear?

Tuesday's selloff on Wall Street on worries about growth at home and abroad, notably China, left investors around the world wondering if this is just a blip or the start of a more prolonged downturn.
U.S. stocks tumbled after markets in China, Japan and Europe all plunged. With about an hour left in the session, the Dow industrials sank some 275 points, or 2.2 percent.
Some investment strategists have suggested that a pullback in stocks was needed since the market has enjoyed a strong runup in the past few months.

The S&P 500 tumbled about 3.5 percent and the Nasdaq, which is heavily influenced by technology stocks, skidded 3.8 percent.
Shanghai's benchmark index tumbled 8.8 percent Tuesday due to concerns that the Beijing government was looking to crack down on market speculation that has driven Chinese stocks to record highs.
Making matters worse for investors, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said at a speech in Hong Kong Monday that the U.S. economy might slip into a recession by the end of the year.
Economic slowdown fears were further fueled by the release of a government report Tuesday morning that showed the biggest monthly drop in new orders for nondefense durable goods, items meant to last three years or more, on record.
In addition, a report from the National Association of Realtors indicated that the median price of an existing home fell 3.1 percent in January from a year earlier, giving investors more reasons to worry about the housing slowdown hurting the economy.
Finally, increased violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a bomb blast at a military base where Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting, also spooked Wall Street.
"It's pretty ugly so far," Stine said. "Everything is happening at the same time and that results in this sizable selloff."
Still, Stine said that investors should not be too concerned. He downplayed recession fears since it appears that consumer spending has held up relatively well recently.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer with Harris Private Bank in Chicago, agreed, saying the fact that durable goods orders were down is a sign of businesses continuing to hold back on capital investments, a development that he said is not new.
"Companies have been hoarding their cash. This is a continuation of a long string of disappointments from the corporate side. Businesses are being conservative," he said.
At the same time, Stine argued that the market was overdue for a correction. After all, the Dow and S&P 500 have each risen 12 percent in the past six months while the Nasdaq is up 17 percent. However, he added that the market could be in for a couple of rough days, if not longer, before things get better.
"The selloff could last for a while because we've had such a big runup over the past few months. This could feed on itself for a few days or few weeks," he said.
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist with Standard & Poor's Equity Research, added that the market was long overdue for a drop like the one seen Tuesday.
"Corrections hurt. But this is not something investors should get too worried about. The market has been in need of a digestion of gains for some time," he said, noting the S&P 500 has not fallen 2 percent in one day since May 19, 2003. "Usually you have big pullbacks at least once, if not several times, during a bull market."
Greenspan fears recession
Another market strategist agreed, saying that the recent gains in stocks may have been too much, too fast - and that as a result, some stocks may have gotten ahead of themselves.
"I have been worried about optimistic valuations for months," said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist for Raymond James. "Stocks are certainly not as expensive as they were at the peak of the bubble in 2000, but they are not cheap. With waning earnings momentum, I'd be pretty cautious here."
Saut said earnings growth should slow this year, which could make it tougher for stocks to keep climbing.
To that end, earnings for the S&P 500 in the first quarter are expected to increase by just 4.1 percent from a year ago, according to figures from Thomson Financial. That would mark the first time in 14 quarters that earnings failed to increase at a double digit percentage pace.
John Butters, a research analyst with Thomson Financial, added that earnings growth for much of the rest of the year is also expected to be relatively sluggish.
Profits are expected to increase 4.5 percent in the second quarter and 6.1 percent in the third quarter before returning to double-digit percentage growth in the fourth quarter, with expectations of an 11.8 percent increase.
"Since January, we've seen estimates come down quite a bit. There have been pretty significant cuts to the energy sector and, to a lesser extent, consumer discretionary and technology stocks," Butters said.
Saut also noted that many stocks that had been leading the market's rally, including Mastercard (Charts), Merrill Lynch (Charts) and Google (Charts), have recently slipped from all-time highs and struggled lately.
"More stocks are joining the top-out parade," he said. "We needed a correction."
But Harris' Ablin said Tuesday's market slump was probably a good time for investors to add more stocks to their portfolios, since he did not think the sell-off would last that long.
"Any pullback will be more of a buying opportunity than an indication of more to come on the downside. Investors are nervous since we haven't seen a meaningful pullback during this rally," he said. "Perhaps this was the catalyst investors needed to pull the trigger."

Metals up so Rio, Zinifex lift market to fresh heights

Rio Tinto and Zinifex led mining companies higher yesterday as prices rose for metals including copper and zinc, helping lift the ASX 200 index to record another high.
"You look at where these mining shares are trading, and then take a look at the sheer demand for resources from places like China, and you have to think you can't really lose if you take a long-term view," said Michael Birch, who manages about $120 million in equities at Wallace Funds Management.
CMC Markets analyst David Land said the record run was driven by strong gains by the miners after a slow start to the day's trading.
"With the Telstra dividend today most of the big banks were really weighing on it over the course of the early session, but in the afternoon the miners really started to get bit of momentum," he said.
"Everything is reasonably robust, it seemed like a bit of a cooling off this morning but there is still a bit of life around.
"The market itself is remaining very strong and this seems set to continue, but that's not to suggest that there won't be periods of cooling within the overall movement."
The ASX 200 added 7.9 to 6044.0 at the close, reversing an earlier drop.
The broader All Ordinaries added 12.6 to 6021.90.
Telstra and Boral weighed on both indexes as they traded without the right to their latest dividends.
Shares in Rio Tinto, the world's second-biggest mining company by market value and third by production, climbed $2.51 to $80.11.
Newcrest, Australia's biggest goldminer, gained 48c to $22.55.
A measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange jumped 3.3 per cent. Gold climbed 0.5 per cent to $US686.70 an ounce in New York, after reaching $US691.90, the highest since May 18.
The ASX 200 Index's futures contract for March rose 0.4 per cent to 6038.
BlueScope Steel, the largest steelmaker, added 10c to $9.85 after saying first-half profit rose 24 per cent to $388 million. The figures reflected higher prices and record sales driven by building demand domestically and in the US.
The big banks were mixed with the National Australia Bank gaining 4c to $41.15 and the Commonwealth Bank 10c to $51.31. ANZ shed 6c to $30.04 and Westpac lost 1c to $26.16.
Origin Energy rose 14c to $8.94 on news AGL Energy Australia's biggest energy retailer, might make a higher offer after the Sydney-based target rejected a proposal that offered no premium over the market price.

AGL could make a friendly stock-based bid of $9.75-$10 a share, which could be enough to attract Origin shareholders to accept, Merrill Lynch said last week.
AGL dropped 1c to $16.59.
The energy sector was mixed despite a higher oil price overnight, with Oil Search gaining 16c to $3.73, Woodside dropping 12c to $37.93 and Santos down 5c to $10. Tap Oil surged 13c to $1.64 after Singapore Petroleum, the only oil refiner traded on the Singapore Exchange, bought a 4.7 per cent stake. Tap said it would seek talks with Singapore Petroleum to determine its intentions.
Explosives supplier Dyno Nobel added 1c to $2.45 after delivering a better-than-expected year profit of $US83.29 million ($105.5 million).
Media was mixed, with the James Packer-led PBL putting on 29c to $19.92, Fairfax gaining 7c to $4.91 and News Corp dropping 20c to $31.45. Macquarie Radio Network gained 21c to $1.37 after revealing it had informal talks with various parties. #
The retailers were also mixed. David Jones rose 6c to $4.61 and Harvey Norman 6c to $4.36. Woolworths was steady at $26.20 and Coles dipped 7c to $15.68.

Sharemarket falls due to profit takers

The bourse closed weaker yesterday as profit takers took some heat out of the market.
The ASX 200 index fell 37.9 points to 5951.8 while the All Ordinaries sank 36.1 points to 5933.3.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract closed 38 points lower at 5931, on a volume of 16,445 contracts.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Kylie Macdonald said the market had pulled back, with weakness across the board - bar a few shining lights.
"We're seeing signs of some profit taking and some weakness creeping into the market," Ms Macdonald said.
"I think a lot of people have been calling the market as [getting] a little bit too hot too quickly, and we are seeing signs of that starting to unravel a little bit."
Among resource stocks, BHP Billiton fell 51c to $28.85, while Rio Tinto dipped $1.48 to $77.62.
Woodside, which posted a record $1.43 billion annual profit, jumped 46c to $37.63. Santos fell 11c to $10.05, while Oil Search was unchanged at $3.58.
Among the banks, CBA slid 10c to $50.40, NAB fell 12c to $40.50, and Westpac slipped 9c to $25.56.
Brambles fell 83c to $13.24, despite reporting a higher first-half net profit and pointing to strong profit growth in the second half.
Blood products maker CSL was a rare bright spot, rising $7.31 to $77.42 after booking a 46 per cent increase in first-half net profit and lifting its full-year forecast.
PBL fell 19c to $19.69 after its new media spin-off, PBL Media, announced the purchase of Channel Nine Perth.
Ten Network eased 7c to $3.38 and Seven rose 8c to $11.63.
Regional pay TV provider Austar jumped 11c to $1.33.

Market ekes out fresh record

The sharemarket closed relatively flat yesterday but still set records as the profit reporting season gained intensity.
ABN Amro Morgans director of equities Bill Chatterton said investors were focused on individual company results.
"It's an individual kind of activity because at this stage the broader market has done very little," he said. "Those companies that have reported are setting the scene."
The ASX200 index closed 0.4 points lower at 5989.7 but set a new intra-day high of 6003.3, just passing Monday's intra-day record of 6003.2.
The All Ordinaries lifted just 0.1 points to a new record close of 5969.4, just squeezing past the mark of 5969.3 set on Monday.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract fell seven points to 5969, on a volume of 11,167.
Among the biggest movers was beverages group Foster's, which fell 35c to $6.79. It posted a 90.1 per cent jump in first-half net profit to $553.5 million.
But its net earnings before significant items of $363 million - up 11 per cent - were below market expectations, and it also reported some restructuring problems.
Among the major banks, NAB dropped 23c to $40.62, ANZ 13c to $29.70 and Commonwealth Bank 40c to $50.50. Westpac nudged up 1c to $25.65.
Financial services group Suncorp-Metway lifted 35c to $22.83 after delivering a handsome rise in first-half profit.
Miner BHP Billiton gained 38c to $29.36 and Rio Tinto $1.16 to $79.10.
Zinc and lead miner Zinifex increased 46c to $17.76 as it bid $391 million for Canadian explorer Wolfden Resources.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum was off 14c at $37.17 and Santos 19c to $10.16.
Oil Search eased 2c to $3.58 despite more than doubling its annual net profit and saying it was entering 2007 in extremely good shape.
In media, PBL gave away 7c to $19.88 and Fairfax 10c to $4.80.
In the gold sector, Newcrest gained 8c at $22, and Lihir 1c to $3.37.
Telstra was off 3c at $4.44.
Retailer Coles was 10c up at $14.46 and Woolworths down 14c at $25.19.
Packager Amcor lost 15c to $7.25 as it said it was winding up its $1 billion asset sales program, with the likelihood of the sale of its PET packaging business in Western Europe.
James Hardie rose 9c to $10.10 after three directors resigned from the board.

So close - shares flirt with 6000

Australia's main shares barometer, the ASX 200 index, closed at a new record after earlier touching 6000 for the first time.
The ASX 200 added 32.30 to close at 5992.80. About five stocks gained for every four that dropped. The All Ordinaries rose 31.4 points to its own record close of 5969.1 after hitting a new intraday high of 5976.1.
ASX Ltd, the listed stock exchange operator, jumped after first-half profit climbed, while Telstra gained after its first-half profit beat analysts' estimates and the company raised its full-year earnings forecast.
Commonwealth Bank and Leighton advanced after UBS raised its rating on the companies' shares following better-than-expected first-half profits.
"The results haven't been too bad at all," said Steven Marsh, who manages about $576 million at Trust Co of Australia. "Commonwealth Bank yesterday proved that there is still upside left in domestic stocks, and we were very happy with the surprisingly strong numbers provided by ASX this morning. So far, so good."
BHP Billiton, Commonwealth Bank and Westfield have been the biggest contributors to the benchmark's gain since it reached the 5000 mark.
Telstra climbed 17c to A$4.54 after saying first-half profit declined 21 per cent to $1.70 billion as customers continued to abandon land lines and costs to upgrade network and billing systems increased. Still, this was above expectations, with Telstra expected to report profit of $1.67 billion, according to analysts.
Telstra increased its forecast growth for full-year revenue to as much as 3 per cent from 2 per cent, and earnings before interest and tax to as much as 5 per cent from 4 per cent.
ASX jumped $2.90 to $43.75 after unveiling a 76 per cent rise in first half profit to $124.7 million, reflecting its purchase of SFE Corp to combine Australia's biggest equities and futures markets. Analysts had expected profit of $122.7 million.
CBA, the nation's second-biggest lender, gained 16c to $51.51. The stock was raised to "buy" from "neutral" by Jeff Emmanuel, an analyst at UBS, after revealing first-half profit up 10 per cent to a record $2.27 billion on higher fund-management fees and increased earnings from low-cost deposits. That beat a $2.15 billion estimate from six analysts.
Leighton, Australia's biggest construction company, jumped $1.79 to $29.09.
Leighton on Wednesday said first-half net income rose 61 per cent to $190 million. It also tripled its profit growth forecast as a mining boom and road projects pushed its order book to a record.

The ASX 200 Index's futures contract for March rose 0.6 per cent to 5957.
Among the big miners BHP Billiton rose 28c, to $29.07 while Rio Tinto climbed 90c to $78.10.
Allco Finance, part of a buyout group bidding $11.1 billion for Qantas, slumped 76c to $11.86 after the company didn't raise its earnings growth forecast. Executive chairman David Coe reiterated his target of at least 20 per cent earnings per share growth in fiscal 2007 after announcing net income doubled in the first half to $93.2 million.
Big life group AMP slid 13c to $10.70. The company said it would pay a special dividend of $750 million, less than some investors expected.
"The market was looking for a capital return of as much as $1 billion," said Johan Vanderlugt, an analyst at Daiwa Securities. "Future returns may be slowing because revenue growth is expected to slow."
IBA Health jumped 4.5c to $1.63. The company is among the potential bidders for ISoft Group, a UK maker of hospital software, the Financial Times reported.
Wesfarmers, a company with businesses including hardware, mining and insurance, dropped 45c, to $38 after saying first-half profit fell 12 per cent to $391.9 million as lower coal prices and rising costs crimped earnings.

Good results put stocks in sight of 6000 mark

The benchmark ASX 200 index closed at a record high yesterday, led by Leighton and Computershare after the pair posted higher earnings.
BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum led commodity stocks higher after copper and oil prices surged.
WorleyParsons enjoyed its biggest gain in more than two years after resuming trading following its agreement last week to buy Calgary-based Colt Companies for $1.13 billion.
"It's all systems go," said Rob Patterson, who manages the equivalent of $3.36 billion at Argo Investments in Adelaide. "The reporting period is going quite well and there are some very good results there this morning.
"It looks like the sell-off that occurred in commodity prices might be stabilising, so that would be a good thing for the resource sector."
The ASX 200 advanced 23.90, to 5960.50 at the close, a record high.
The All Ordinaries added 30.4 to close at a record 5937.7.
About 10 stocks rose for every seven that fell. Leighton, Australia's biggest engineering and construction company, jumped $2.07 to $27.30.
It posted a 61 per cent gain in first-half profit to $190 million as mining contracts and highway projects pushed its order book to a record.
Computershare, the world's biggest share registrar, advanced 66c to $10.46.
It said first-half profit more than doubled to $119 million as mergers and acquisitions boosted demand for its services.
Full-year earnings would be 50 per cent higher than last year due to favourable conditions in equity markets, it said.
BHP added 23c to $28.79 and Rio Tinto jumped $1.72 to $77.20.
Zinifex, the world's second-biggest zinc producer, rose 65c to $16.35.
Copper surged the most in seven months on signs of rising demand for raw materials in China.
Copper for delivery in three months gained $US279, or 5.1 per cent, to $US5749 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, marking the biggest gain since July 6. A measure of six metals in London rose 4.4 per cent, the most since January 10.
Zinc and lead miner Perilya added 7c to $4.62. Perilya said first-half profit rose more than four-fold to $76.1 million on surging prices for the metals.
Woodside added 70c to $37.20 after the International Energy Agency increased its forecast for global consumption this year.
World demand for crude oil is expected to rise 1.8 per cent to 86 million barrels a day, the IEA, an adviser to 26 industrialised nations, said.

That is 270,000 barrels a day more than it predicted one month ago.
Crude oil was little changed in New York after hours, after surging above $US59 a barrel on Tuesday.
The ASX 200 index's futures contract for March added 0.6 per cent to 5933.
Alumina, a partner with US-based Alcoa in a venture with a quarter of the world's alumina production capacity, rose 11c to $7.34. Alumina surged 5.9 per cent on Tuesday on a report that its partner Alcoa may be the subject of takeover bids from BHP and Rio Tinto.
Boom Logistics, an engineering and machinery rental company, dropped 58c to $3.80. The company, which reported first-half profit growth of 25 per cent, said chief executive officer Rod Harmon would leave on June 30, to be replaced by finance director Mark Lawrence.
Challenger Financial, a fund manager backed by billionaire James Packer, added 15c to $4.56.
Challenger formed a venture with London-based Protego Real Estate Investors to pursue property acquisitions in Europe.
Uranium group Energy Resources of Australia rose $1.51, or 6.2 per cent, to $25.93, saying it could not explain the share price rise, though it was aware of speculation of a possible buyout of minority shareholders by Rio Tinto.
JB Hi-Fi jumped 19c to $7.29, adding to its 7.4 per cent gain on Tuesday. Credit Suisse Group raised its rating to "neutral" from "underperform" after the company said first-half profit rose 37 per cent to $26.8 million on Christmas demand for televisions, DVDs and computer games.

Commodity falls brushed aside

The sharemarket hit record highs yesterday as healthy earnings and expectations of more to come overcame falls in commodity prices and weaker US markets.
By the close the ASX200 had added 12.5 points to reach a record 5936.6 while the All Ordinaries also achieved a new high, gaining 12.3 points to 5907.3.
The ASX200 and the All Ordinaries also beat Friday's intraday records, peaking at 5947.3 and 5816.3 respectively.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract was 14 points higher at 5910.
ABN Amro Morgans Brisbane broker Simon Ferguson said a number of positive results boosted market sentiment.
"There's been positive reports from JB Hi-fi, Seek had a very good report and Cochlear was quite well received as well," Mr Ferguson said.
"That gives investors confidence about upcoming results."
Mr Ferguson said expectations of a strong half-year profit today for CBA had lifted banking sector shares. "Also we've seen pretty good reports from Adelaide Bank and Bendigo [bank] so investors are pretty confident about the prospects for the sector."
CBA rose 30c to $51.60, NAB 12c to $41.08, ANZ 21c to $29.57 and Westpac 20c to $25.55.
Shares in hearing implant company Cochlear lifted $2.45, or 4.42 per cent, to $57.85 after it reported an 11.5 per cent lift in first-half profit.
JB Hi-FI jumped 49c, or 7.41 per cent, to $7.10 after the retailer said it was likely to meet expectations for a 2006-07 net profit of $32.7 million.
Online employment website Seek surged 59c, or 9.34 per cent, to $6.91 and reported a 63 per cent lift in first-half profit.
Falls in commodity prices hit the big miners, with BHP Billiton down 3c to $28.56 and rival Rio Tinto off 36c to $75.48.
Mr Ferguson said speculation that the two mining giants were interested in Alcoa sent Alumina shares soaring 40c, or almost 6 per cent, to $7.23.
Alumina's sole asset is its 40 per cent stake in Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals, with Alcoa holding the rest.
Energy stocks were weaker because of the falling crude oil price, with Woodside down 27c to $36.50 and Santos falling 14c to $9.83.
Goldminers were weaker as the spot price fell to $US662.20 - down $US3.05 on Monday night's close. Newcrest fell 23c to $21.98 and Lihir fell 5c to $3.25.
News Corp dropped 60c to $31.75 and its non-voting scrip reversed 54c to $29.94. PBL fell 24c to $20.11.
Woolworths fell 4c to $4.32; its instalment receipts 6c to $2.89.
Qantas was up 1c to $5.22.

BHP holds up sagging market

The sharemarket bounced back from a poor start and closed just short of record highs yesterday, buoyed by strong gains from BHP Billiton.
The ASX 200 shed 3.1 points to 5924.1 while the All Ordinaries lost 4.3 points to 5895.0.
The ASX 200 hit an intra-day record of 5934.7 points while the All Ordinaries peaked at 5905.3 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract closed 12 points lower at 5896 on a volume of 10,932 contracts.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said a strong performance by BHP counteracted a poor lead from Wall Street on Friday.
"It's not a bad start to the week, given the pretty downbeat performance in the US on Friday," he said.
"There were probably more decliners than risers on the market.
"But I think it was very comforting for the market to have the biggest stock [BHP Billiton] rising almost 2 per cent.
"Most of the sectors were down. But I think when you see close to a 2 per cent rise in the biggest stock in the market, it is going to be a big driver overall."
BHP Billion put on 53c to $28.59 while Rio Tinto added 24c to $75.84.
With the spot price of gold closing in Sydney at $US665.25 an ounce, up $US6.40 from Friday's local close, the gold miners were stronger. Newcrest put on 15c to $22.21, Newmont gained 6c to $5.90 and Lihir added 11c to $3.30.
Junior explorer Western Metals was the most traded stock, with 79.5 million shares changing hands collectively worth $11.8 million. Its price climbed 2.5c to 15.5c.
Banks were mixed, with the CBA picking up 10c to $51.30, ANZ dropping 29c to $29.36, NAB retreating 22c to $40.96 and Westpac losing 16c to $25.35.
Bendigo Bank gained 25c to $14.31 after it delivered a 1.9 per cent rise in first-half net profit to $54.3 million.
The media stocks were weaker, with PBL giving up 9c to $20.35 and News Corp losing 25c to $32.35.
Fairfax lost 6c to $4.97 following a 2.7 per cent drop in underlying net profit to $121.4 million.
APN gave up 7c to $5.98 after its board accepted an increased $6.10 takeover offer from a consortium led by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News.
In retailers David Jones added 3c to $4.71 but Woolworths slipping 23c to $25.52, Coles 28c to $14.65 and Harvey Norman 3c to $4.13.
The energy sector was mixed despite an oil price rise. Woodside fell 4c to $36.77.

Sharemarket hitches its wagon to BHP's star

The sharemarket reached new highs on Friday, boosted by global mining group BHP Billiton and the big banks, and oil and gold stocks.
CMC Markets senior dealer James Foulsham said the market was strong.
"BHP and the Commonwealth Bank have been the two biggest-weighing stocks in the index," he said.
"With BHP, it was the ex-date for the buyback entitlement yesterday so there's been a bit of rallying on the back of that.
"BHP has been the stock that's pushed the market up for the week."
BHP earlier this week unveiled the biggest half-year profit in Australian corporate history and announced a $US10 billion ($12.9 billion) share buyback program.
At the Friday close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 27.7 points at a record closing and intraday high of 5927.2, surpassing the previous closing record of 5899.8 set on Wednesday, and the previous intraday high of 5909.9, set on the same day.
The All Ordinaries was up 26.4 points at a new record closing and intraday high of 5899.3, beating the 5872.9 set on Thursday and the intraday peak of 5880.5, also set that day.
At the close of the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract rose 35 points to 5906, on a volume of 14,063, according to preliminary figures.
But most eyes were on the ASX, where BHP Billiton rose 39c to $28.06 on the ASX while Rio Tinto fell 28c to $75.60.
Uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia climbed $1.16 to $22.61.
Higher oil prices helped push oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum up 28c to $36.81, and Santos jumped 40c to $9.91.
Among gold stocks, Newmont added 13c to $5.84, Newcrest 46c to $22.06 and Lihir 8c to $3.19.
At the nominal close in Sydney, the price of gold was $US658.60 per fine ounce, up $US5.55 on Thursday's close.
In banking, Commonwealth Bank lifted 30c to $51.20, National Australia Bank 16c to $41.18, ANZ 11c to $29.65 and Westpac 1c to $25.51.
QBE Insurance Group dipped 1c to $30.18 as it took a 14.9 per cent stake in broker Austbrokers Holdings but said it was not planning a takeover.

In media, West Australian Newspapers was steady at $13.65 after it delivered a record first-half profit and forecast strong trading conditions to continue.
Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd rose 9c to $20.44 and Fairfax 6c to $5.03.
News Corp lifted 42c to $32.60 and its non-voting stock 35c to $30.74.
Telecommunications group Telstra ended up 1c to $4.39 as it pulled out of the bidding for Telecom Corp of New Zealand Ltd's Yellow Pages unit, saying the asking price for the directories business was too high.
Optus owner Singapore Telecommunications also rose 1c, to $2.86.
Retailer Coles Group jumped 28c to $14.93 and Woolworths was up 32c at $25.75.
Among other stocks, Qantas rose 2c to $5.37 as Singaporean low-cost carrier Tiger Airways promised bargain basement fares if it was permitted to enter the domestic market.
Property Group Stockland was in a trading halt as it acquired the largest privately owned operator in the Australian retirement market for $329 million. Stockland last traded at $8.85.
The top traded stock by volume was IT provider CommodiTel, with 70.05 million shares worth $1.5 million changing hands. Its stock was steady at 2c.
National turnover was 1.66 billion shares worth $5.5 billion, with 717 stocks up, 523 down and 328 unchanged.
Agencies
FRIDAY'S MOVES Rises 717 Falls 523 Steady 328
Mar SPI 5908.0 +37.0
ASX 200 5927.2 +27.7
Financials 7112.2 +12.4
Industrials 6670.6 +23.4
Energy 12281.7 +179.3
Volume Value 1.664bn 5.497bn
MONEY $A/US¢78.02-0.09
TWI64.4steady
90-day bank bills6.388+0.018
3-yr bonds (Aug '08)6.110-0.033
10-yr bonds (Apr '15)5.805-0.043

Banks, resources drag on market

Australian stocks finished on a mixed note yesterday, giving back some of Wednesday's gains, led down by the dominant banking and resources sectors.
The benchmark ASX 200 index ended 0.3 points lower at 5899.5, but the All Ordinaries gained two points to a new intra-day record of 5880.5 and closing record of 5872.9.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was three points up at 5872, on a volume of 13,824 contracts.
Bell Potter analyst Stuart Smith said the banks and miners were the culprits.
"The seven leading stocks, the two miners and the four banks are all down and I think it's index-related more than anything else," Mr Smith said.
The world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, lost 57c to $27.67, while rival Rio Tinto slid 77c to $75.88.
The gold price in Sydney fell $US2.60 to $US653.05 per fine ounce.
Gold miners were showing no clear direction, with Lihir losing 8c to $3.11 but Newcrest gaining 37c to $21.60.
In banking, Commonwealth gave up 38c to $50.90, ANZ shed 31c to $29.54 and NAB and Westpac both slipped 5c, to $41.02 and $25.50 respectively.
Risers included brick, tile and concrete maker Boral adding 36c to $8.80, shopping centre group Westfield climbing 62c to $23 and Adelaide Bank gaining 39c to $14.19.
MFS Investment Management chief investment officer Guy Hutchings said the market had taken a breather after Wednesday's record highs and optimistic reaction to BHP's interim results.
"My sense is that stocks did pretty well, given the uninspiring performance of overseas stock and commodity markets," Mr Hutchings said.
"But without any major themes, investors focused on stock-specific news, with the Qantas first-half result indicating good prospects for the takeover consortium and Boral powering ahead on upgraded analyst earnings," Mr Hutchings said.
Qantas lost 1c to $5.35, despite upgrading its annual profit forecast, predicting earnings will rise by as much as 40 per cent on the back of increased demand and lower fuel costs.
Singapore Telecommunications lost 13c to $2.85 after announcing that its Australian arm, Optus, suffered a 15 per cent decline in net profit for the third quarter as customers hung up on their fixed lines.
Telstra added 1c to $4.38.
The local bourse was given a positive lead from the US overnight, as tech stocks rose led by Cisco Systems.
The Dow Jones inched up just 0.56 of a point to 12,666.87, after earlier touching an intra-day record high at 12,700.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 2.02 points to 1450.02, just shy of its six-year high at 1452.99 reached earlier in the day, while the Nasdaq climbed 19.01 points to 2490.50.
Australia's most traded stock of the day by volume was minerals explorer Jervois Mining, after announcing an agreement for possible development of its mine in Young, NSW.
Its shares added 0.2c to 1.5c, with 147.75 million worth $2.23 million changing hands.

BHP buyback excites investors

The Australia sharemarket closed in record territory again yesterday, underpinned by a stellar performance from miner BHP Billiton.
The ASX200 index rose 29.3 points to 5899.8 and the All Ordinaries gained 22.4 points to 5870.9, both setting record closes after touching new intra-day highs.
The ASX200 broke through the 5900 point barrier for the first time as both indices surpassed the record levels achieved on Tuesday.
The ASX200 rose as high as 5909.9 during yesterday's session while the All Ords reached 5880.1.
At the close of day trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was 17 points higher at 5869 on a volume of 15,350 contracts.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said BHP Billiton was the dominant force in the market after it posted a $US6.17 billion ($7.96 billion) first-half profit and increased its share buyback program.
"It is a great day for BHP, it is the standout message coming from the market today," he said.
"BHP is leading by the length of the straight as far as being the dominant market mover, more than twice as big as the next biggest rise and that was by Coles.
"The key catalyst has been the buyback and it is a very attractive buyback with the capital component … there are big tax benefits there for people who can make use of them and I think that has stimulated big turnover."
The world's biggest miner plans to buy back a further $US10 billion in shares over the next 18 months, after increasing its capital management program to $US13 billion.
BHP shares gained $1.56, or almost 6 per cent, to $28.24, and topped turnover on the market with more than 96.5 million shares worth $2.7 billion traded.
Rio Tinto added 75c to $76.65.
The spot price of gold closed at $US655.65 an ounce in Sydney, up $US5.60 on Tuesday's local close.
Goldminer Newcrest gained 5c to $21.23 and Lihir Gold added 1c to $3.19.
The big banks were mixed, with the Commonwealth Bank adding 16c to $51.28, ANZ dropping 1c to $29.85, National Australia Bank shedding 21c to $41.07 and Westpac steady at $25.55.
Property group Stockland gained 12c to $8.75 after delivering a higher first-half net profit and announcing the acquisition of British property development and investment company Halladale Group.
In the media sector, Fairfax added 2c to $5.01 and News Corp 30c to $31.50, its non-voting shares gaining 30c to $29.92 ahead of the release of its first half results.
The James Packer-led PBL dipped 13c to $19.86, before an announcement that it had completed the recapitalisation of PBL Media.
The big retailers were stronger with Coles adding 37c to $14.76 and Woolworths putting on 28c to $25.06.
The energy sector was also mixed, with Santos gaining 5c to $9.32, Woodside slipping 69c to $36.95 and Oil Search dropping 5c to $3.61.
Market turnover reached 1.67 billion shares worth a total of $7.8 billion.
Some 582 stocks moved up, 662 dropped and 331 were unchanged.

Market 'stronger than 10 men' as it anticipates BHP Billiton results

The sharemarket climbed further into record territory, with expectations of a strong reporting season and much anticipation of BHP Billiton's first-half result today.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 48.4 points to 5870.5, beating the record of 5831.5 set on Friday. Minutes before the session ended the index set an intraday record of 5871.5, just 1 point above the close.
Macquarie equities private client adviser David Halliday said it was hard to find any significant pocket of weakness. "The market was stronger than 10 men today," he said.
The sharemarket had got through the "January jitters" and was expecting a solid reporting season in the weeks ahead, Mr Halliday said. "But all eyes will be on BHP tomorrow morning at 8.30. There is so much expected from it — it is such a big part of the market."
BHP Billiton rose 27¢ to $26.68 while Rio Tinto gained 41¢ to $75.90.
Woodside Petroleum, however, lost 36¢ to $37.64 while Santos won back 22¢ of recent losses to close at $9.27. The spot price of benchmark crude slipped US28¢ to $US58.74 in New York.
The Big Four banks all closed more than 1 per cent higher, led by ANZ, which strengthened 48¢ $29.86. Westpac rose 36¢ to $25.55, NAB 57¢ to $41.28 and Commonwealth 68¢ to $51.12.
Macquarie Bank dropped $2.48 to $81.40 after chief executive Alan Moss said second-half earnings would be down slightly from the record first half.
The retail sector moved higher. Woolworths led the way with a 36¢ lift to $24.78 and Coles was 14¢ better off at $14.39. Harvey Norman rose 9¢ to $4.18.
The media sector was mostly weaker. News Corp's non-voting shares fell 56¢ to $29.62, with the voting scrip down 55¢ at $31.20. Fairfax was off 5¢ at $4.99 and PBL eased 1¢ to $19.99.
Telstra, which reports its interim results next week, climbed 8¢ to $4.32.
Resources and rail sector products manufacturer Bradken surged 75¢, or almost 9 per cent, to $9.40 after upgrading its annual earnings forecast and posting a 42 per cent lift in first-half net profit.
Primary Health Care slipped 9¢ to $13.75 after the medical centre operator and pathology provider bumped up its first-half net profit by almost 20 per cent and revealed it had proposed a "merger of equals" with Symbion Health. Symbion dipped 3¢ to $4.06.
Australian Agricultural Co moved up 13¢ to $2.23. The company said full-year earnings before a $17.3 million write-down of its cattle inventory had risen more than sevenfold to $39.4 million. Most of the company's stations had made a good start to the 2007 season, the company said.
Engineering and maintenance company Transfield Services surged 92¢, or 9.9 per cent, to $10.20. Canada's Flint Energy Services reported that it and Transfield were leading a group in exclusive talks to manage oil-sands operations for Calgary-based Suncor Energy in a five-year contract valued at more than $C1 billion ($A1.09 million).
A 4.6 per cent slump in nickel hurt Minara Resources, Australia's second-largest nickel producer. It slipped 9¢ to $6.21 while Jubilee Mines dropped 51¢ to $15.73.
Gold rose but the gold miners were mixed. Newmont lost 8¢ to $5.75 while Newcrest picked up 7¢ to $21.18 and Lihir firmed 2¢ to $3.18. Spot gold was up $US3.30 at $US650.05 an ounce in Sydney.

Resources follow metals … down

Australian stocks gave back some of last week's record gains yesterday, closing lower as resource stocks tumbled because of sinking commodity prices.
The ASX200 closed 9.4 points lower at 5822.1, while the All Ordinaries index fell 9.3 points to 5805.1.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract sank five points to 5788 on a volume of 13.955 contracts.
Trent Muller, a dealer at ABN Amro Morgans, said it had been a relatively unexciting trading day on the local sharemarket, but that the pull downwards was coming from the resources sector.
"In particular Zinifex is down quite a bit, on a large pullback in the zinc prices on Friday night in the UK," Mr Muller said.
Zinifex plummeted 81c, or almost 5 per cent, to $15.99, as zinc prices fell to a seven-month low on the London Metals Exchange.
Copper and lead prices also posted declines.
Mining giant BHP Billiton ended 18c lower at $26.41, while rival Rio Tinto shed $1.75 to $75.49.
"There's been a little bit of hesitancy because of the pullback in base metal prices," Mr Muller said
"Generally speaking, the banking stocks are holding up quite well.
"We're noticing a bit of a switch out of resources and into defensive plays like banking and infrastructure."
Gold miners were mixed, Lihir added 1c to $3.16 and Newcrest dropped 20c to $21.11.
Banks had provided some support but were mixed at close, Westpac closed 21c weaker at $25.19, NAB dipped 9c to $40.71 and ANZ 3c to $29.38, but Commonwealth managed a 10c gain to $50.44.
Shares in property developer Multiplex Group gained 25c to $4.80 on news that Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management could make a takeover offer if talks with the company founders, the Roberts family, are successful.
Origin Energy gained 3c to $9.14 after revealing it has entered into discussions with AGL Energy for a potential $14 billion merger, but AGL dropped 6c to $17.70.
The lower close on the local market came despite America's S&P 500 index enjoying a modest gain on Friday on indications that interest rates are likely to remain stable.
However, a 1 per cent drop in aircraft maker Boeing's shares weighed heavily on the Dow average, after the company share price hit an all-time high.
Retailers were mixed with Woolworths adding 17c to $24.42, while rival Coles was steady at $14.25. David Jones sank 10c to $4.60.
The most traded stock was base metals explorer Black Range Minerals, with 119.1 million shares changing hands. It ended 2c higher at 21.5c.

Banks lead shares down: data too good for comfort

The sharemarket closed in negative territory yesterday, with the banks weighing on the bourse amid renewed but stronger fears of a rise in interest rates soon.
The ASX 200 index closed 79.2 points lower at 5915.8, while the All Ordinaries fell 70.6 to 5908.2.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the banks dipped as strong economic data aggravated fears of an interest rate rise.
"The market was solidly down. It is what you'd call a red letter day and the banks have been major contributors to the downward trend," he said.
"I think that is largely due to figures on retail sales and building approvals that came out today, which were robust, better than expected and fuelling the possibility of interest rate rises.
"But I think the market will get over this one. Even if interest rates do go up, the economy is still in great shape, the figures today were symptomatic of a very strong economy."
The market got off to a poor start following a mixed lead from Wall Street on Friday night, the Dow finishing last week at 12,354.3, up just 5.6 and the S&P 500 index dropping 1.6 points to 1,420.8.
Locally, the big miners weren't much chop, with BHP Billiton slipping 54c to $29.35 and Rio Tinto falling $1.61 to $77.20.
The Commonwealth Bank dropped 66c to $49.60, the National shed 38c to $40.02, ANZ retreated 30c to $29.40 and Westpac tumbled 45c to $25.90.
St George fell 94c to $34.09 and takeover target Bendigo Bank was down 25c at $16.75. Its bidder, Bank of Queensland, was off 32c to $17.00.
Veda Advantage picked up 23c to $3.51 after the credit-ratings firm recommended shareholders accept a cash offer of $3.61 per unit from a private equity consortium.
Diversified property trust GPT Group dipped 6c to $4.88 after it launched a $2 billion wholesale shopping centre fund, trying to muscle further into the booming funds management business.
Rival Stockland was down 5c to $8.10 but Westfield was up 8c at $20.65.
Media was mixed. Fairfax gained 2c to $5, News Corp dropped 1c to $30.39, its non-voters were up 11c to $28.67 and PBL slipped 25c to $19.60.
Fairfax said it would sell some of its community newspapers in the Newcastle region after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported it had concerns about a concentration of newspaper ownership in the region.
Would-be Fairfax bride Rural Press was up 13c to $13.73.
The energy sector was mixed despite a drop in the oil price.
Santos rose 18c to $10.33 but Woodside retreated 79c to $38.70 and Oil Search shed 13c to $3.58.
Energy Resources of Australia shed $1.54 to $26.26 after the uranium miner forecast a significant decrease in production in 2008 after heavy rain at its Ranger mine in the NT.
The retailers were weaker, with Coles falling 14c to $16.11, Woolworths tumbling 59c to $26.60, Harvey Norman falling 13c to $4.59 and David Jones 5c lower at $4.50.

Just for the record, it's yet another record

The sharemarket climbed further into record territory, buoyed by a solid lead from Wall Street and a strong performance by BHP Billiton.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index moved up 17.4 points to a record close at 5831.5 after reaching 5841.3, which broke Wednesday's intraday record.
It was the benchmark's fourth straight weekly rise. It has gained 161.6 points, or 2.8 per cent, this year — of which, by chance, 61.6 points were added this week.
Trading got off to a Le Mans start after Wall Street's Dow Jones rose 51.99 points to 12,673.68, its fifth record this year, and the S&P 500 Index climbed to a six-year high. Buyers were heartened by data showing the US economy was gaining strength without spurring inflation.
Back home, solid gains by BHP and pharmaceutical manufacturer CSL counteracted losses from Rio Tinto, which was the biggest drag on the index.
Rio Tinto slipped $1.05 to $77.24 while BHP Billiton put on 34¢ to $26.59. Rio's second-half profit fell short of analyst estimates and the increase in its dividend was less than some investors expected.
"The global growth outlook is fine, and you're seeing BHP responding to that," said Gary Armor, of AMP in Sydney. "But I really was disappointed with Rio's dividend, where I thought they could have given us some more cash back."
The energy sector was mixed after the spot price of West Texas crude fell US84¢ to $US57.30 a barrel following sharp rises in the previous two sessions. Woodside rose 13¢ to $37.48, Santos shed a further 11¢ to $9.07 and Oil Search dropped 7¢ to $3.53.
The banks were little changed, NAB edging up 2¢ to $40.80, Commonwealth firming 2¢ to $50.34, ANZ slipping 9¢ to $29.41 and Westpac steady at $25.40.
QBE Insurance rose 33¢ to $31.23 after its acquisition of Mexican commercial lines insurer Seguros Cumbre SA.
Shares in pharmaceutical manufacturer CSL put on $1.80 to $70.50 after it signed an agreement with Bayer to supply a new hemophilia treatment.
Qantas finished 2¢ higher at $5.39 after the private equity consortium seeking to take over the airline ruled out increasing its share offer in its formal Bidder's Statement.
Media stocks were stronger. PBL rose 17¢ to $20.10, Fairfax put on 6¢ to $5 and News Corp's non-voting shares climbed 13¢ to $29.98 as the voting scrip firmed 5¢ to $31.55.

Among the retailers, Coles rose 11¢ to $14.25 and Woolworths picked up 1¢ to $24.25.
Leighton Holdings gained $1.37, or 6.1 per cent, to $23.75. ABN Amro Holding raised its recommendation to "buy", saying Leighton's acquisition of residential developer Devine on Thursday would help it benefit from a forecast housing recovery.
CuDeco slumped 47¢, or 11 per cent, to $3.95. The company replied on Thursday to a stock exchange query about a 13 per cent jump in its stock, saying it could not account for the rise. Yesterday it denied that it was in takeover talks.
Sydney Roads Group, the target of a takeover bid by Transurban Group, was the day's most traded stock, with 61.4 million shares worth $81.2 million changing hands. It closed up 0.5¢ at $1.325.
Gold rose again but goldminers were mixed. Newcrest gained 16¢ to $21.31, Newmont dropped 8¢ to $5.80 and Lihir slipped 3¢ to $3.15. At the close, the spot price of gold was up $US2.90 at $US656.50.
Market turnover reached 1.57 billion worth $5.34 billion, with 662 stocks moving up, 544 moving down and 365 unchanged.
The dollar resumed its slump against the US dollar, with traders showing disappointment with Australia's wider than expected trade deficit.
At 5pm the Aussie was at US77.28¢, down from Thursday's close of US77.51¢ and from US77.44¢ at the end of last week.
The fall — its ninth in the past 10 days — was in reaction to news that energy and metals exports had not been enough to temper the 57th consecutive monthly trade deficit.
"Its disappointing that the trade deficit is running well over $1 billion," said Grange Securities economist Stephen Roberts. "(It's) taking a long time for net exports to make a consistent contribution."

Shares breaking records as miners, banks take off

Shares resumed record-breaking yesterday as rising US markets and commodity prices provided a warm welcome to what is tipped to be another strong February reporting season.
Alumina got the season off to a good start with a 62 per cent jump in annual earnings and a positive outlook from Adelaide Bank helped boost sentiment towards its bigger financial cousins.
The ASX 200 closed up 40.7 points at a record 5814.1, while the All Ordinaries was 39.1 higher for a record 5796.8.
Both previous records were set on Tuesday.
"The Dow closed up over 100 points last night on the back of their central bank keeping interest rates as they are," said Tony Russell, a manager with ABN Amro Morgan.
"We also had some increases in gold, base metal and oil prices last night, which has provided a windfall for local resource stocks."
BHP Billiton rose 21c to $26.25 while rival Rio Tinto, expected to report a record annual profit of almost $10 billion, shot up $1.69 to $78.29.
Alumina surged 36c, or 5.57 per cent, to $6.82 after it reported a 62 per cent rise in annual profit and forecast that the China-fuelled resource boom would continue to underpin increased production this year.
Higher zinc and lead prices provided a healthy boost for Zinifex, which rose 72c to $17.12.
Australia's banks had a big day thanks to expectations of sustained strong economic growth and a positive result from regional player Adelaide Bank.
"Buoyant economic activity underpins the earnings of the banks so that's one of the main reasons they are up," Mr Russell said.
"And, of course, Adelaide Bank, which released a profit downgrade three month ago, have come out today with a pretty good result."
Adelaide Bank rose 53c to $13.16 as it lifted its interim earnings and reinstated guidance that it would achieve 10 per cent earnings growth by year's end.
National Australia Bank climbed 36c to $40.78, the Commonwealth firmed 28c to $50.32, Westpac jumped 33c to $25.40 and ANZ rose 39c to $29.50.
Shares in Oil Search climbed 8c to $3.60 after it announced it had shelved its troubled $8 billion Papua New Guinea-to-Australia gas pipeline project.
But a rising oil price did little to help Santos, which fell 12c to $9.18 and Woodside, which ended steady at $37.35.
Spot gold in Sydney hit $US653.60, up $US7.90 on Wednesday night's close.
Newcrest advanced 25c to $21.15, Newmont gained 12c to $5.88 and Lihir Gold rose 9c to $3.18. Bendigo settled up 1c at 35.5c.
News Corp was up 5c to $31.50, its non-voters down 15c to $29.85, PBL rose 31c to $19.93 and Seven Network dropped 1c to $11.74.
Turnover was 1.77 billion shares worth $5.94 billion.