AFTERNOON REPORT
(4.30pm AEST)

Ongoing concerns about the US debt crisis saw markets around the Asian region heavily sold off again today. Investors remain concerned that even if US lawmakers come to an agreement over the raising of the debt ceiling, the US could still have its AAA credit rating downgraded. Japan's Nikkei index eased by 1.6pct today while the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell 73.4pts or 1.6pct to 4539.2 while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) eased by 73.6pts or 1.6pct to 4463.8.

Financial stocks were battered, with shares in Macquarie Group (MQG) down 4.6pct to $27.99. Among the big four banks, Westpac (WBC) was weakest, lower by 1.8pct to $20.65 while the ANZ (ANZ) was down 1.4pct to $20.99. Shares in the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) lost 0.8pct to $49.44 while the NAB (NAB) eased by 1.1pct to $24.18.

Mining stocks lost ground as investors bailed out of commodities due to the uncertainty in the US. Index leader BHP Billiton (BHP) dropped 2.3pct to $42.03 while Rio Tinto (RIO) fell 1.7pct to $81.20. However shares in Platinum Australia (PLA) rose 8.5pct to $0.32 after the company announced it had restarted operations at its Smokey Hills mine in South Africa.

Wesfarmers (WES), the owner of the Coles supermarkets and Bunnings hardware stores, today announced fourth quarter and full year sales results. Sales rose by 5.8pct across the business in the fourth quarter to $11.7 billion dollars. Over the year, Coles increased sales by 6.7pct to $31.8 billion, helped by an aggressive discounting campaign aimed at maintaining sales growth and luring more customers from Woolworths. Target sales rose 2.9pct in the quarter, but fell 1.2pct over the year, while Wesfarmers' Kmart business saw quarterly sales down 0.8pct but up 0.4pct over the year. WES shares finished the day's trade at $29.37, down 2.4pct.

Rival Woolworths (WOW) saw its share price drop 0.7pct to $27.20 while among consumer discretionary stocks, Myer Limited (MYR) was down 4.1pct to $2.33 and Harvey Norman (HVN) was off 2.7pct to $2.19. Shares in JB Hi-Fi (JBH) dropped 3.4pct to $15.19.

Commonwealth Property Office Fund (CPA) rose 3.8pct to $0.95 after selling one of its Sydney properties for $395 million. 259 George Street in the centre of the CBD houses businesses such as Suncorp and OneSteel, as well as a Fitness First gym and a number of cafes and bars.

Downer EDI (DOW) shares rose 0.8pct to $3.90 after the company presented its second Waratah train to NSW RailCorp. RailCorp will inspect the train over the next three weeks and
must provide a certificate of practical completion before the train can begin service.

CommSec has studied Bureaus of Statistics (ABS) public information and found that Mosman on Sydney's north shore had the highest income in Australia in 2008/09 at $130,637, well above the national average of $46,904. The second highest income region was Mosman Park in Western Australia at $116,197. Average income in Mosman Park soared 46.2pct in 2008/09. The ABS also found that over two-thirds of regions in Australia had average incomes lower than the national average. According to the latest census Australia had 16.4 million motor vehicles as at 31 January 2011, up 2.3pct over the past year and up 14.5pct over the past five years. An extra 300,000 are being added to our roads each year. One in five cars on the road is a Toyota. Over the past five years the number of Toyota vehicles has increased almost 20pct whereas the number of Holden, Ford, Mitsubishi and Nissan cars has fallen.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank Equity Research Retail Analysts have analysed data on online spending activities of CBA customers. More than a million CBA cardholders are actively spending online. The data reveals a clear shift to online spending. CBA cards data indicates spending at pure online retailers has increased by 126pct in volume over the year to May 2011 and by 90pct in value. The largest category of spending from our customers has been at online 'Department Stores' with 32pct of online spend, followed by Deals/Group buying sites with 16pct. But there is a huge disparity in volume growth over the past year with spending at Deals/Group buying sites up 557pct compared with department stores at 75pct. The second fastest online category in growth terms has been Fashion, increasing by 230pct in volume terms and 146pct in value. Online Fashion sales represents 13pct of total pure online spending. The growth of online has been rapid across most generations, but particularly so for Generation Y and Generation Z demographic groups. Younger consumers are over-represented in the online retail categories of fashion and cosmetics.

The Australian dollar remains the traveller's friend and at 4.30pm AEST was woth US110.39c, £0.6759 and €76.91c.

On the market overall, a total of 2.28 billion shares were traded, worth $5.25 billion. 251 were up, 872 were down and 324 were unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEST on the ASX24, the futures contract was at 4431, down 81pts.

Ahead tonight, weekly jobless claims are released in the US. Oil giant Exxon Mobil releases earnings ahead of the bell, with coffee conglomerate Starbucks to release its numbers after the bell.

(From Juliette Saly, CommSec Market Analyst)