A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange ASX in central Sydney August 7, 2013.
A man looks the board of the Australian Securities Exchange in central Sydney August 7, 2013. Reuters/Daniel Munoz
  • Local shares remained in the doldrums over the second half of the session Monday. A bank holiday in several states ensured a session free of major catalysts. Following the losses of the first hour and a half the ASX 200 stuck to a very narrow range of 11 points over the after noon. Volumes were slight as a result with 1.8 million trades transacted valued at $3.2 billion. 418 shares ended the day higher , while 541 were lower and 338 settled unchanged.
  • Almost all ASX sectors were weaker over the session. The Energy sector led the losses after crude oil futures fell to US$48.44 overnight. Bulk miners were penalised for a fall in the value of Iron ore which fell to US$55.64/t (CFRChina) a loss of almost 0.5%. Another factor that worked against bulk miners was the results reported by the World’s largest iron ore producer, Vale, at the weekend. The Brazilian miner reported a 46% y/y decrease in EBITDA, as the company struggles with falling iron ore prices. Vale produced 85.3Mt of iron ore in the quarter. The company noted that 2016 guidance would be lower than the previous estimates of 376Mt, as the company cuts lower-quality ore production. There were concerns that domestic iron ore producers could underwhelm with their upcoming results.
  • Biotechnology giant CSL (CSL) announced that it had completed its $376.1 million acquisition of Novartis' influenza business. CSL on Monday said it had paid cash in the transaction that will allow it to create the world's second biggest company in the $US4 billion flu vaccine industry. CSL rose to a new all-time high of $98.96 on Friday, when the company said it was bringing forward the close date on the deal which was first announced last October. CSL shares closed the session at $98.83 down 13 cents or 0.13%.
  • Argo Investments (ARG) reported a 16.5 per cent rise in annual net profit to $228.1 million which represents a record full year result driven by increased dividends and distributions from the company's investment portfolio. Total annual revenue of $241.9 million was up 14.8 per cent on the $210.7million posted in the previous year. The headline result was boosted by an $18.6 million dividend from global miner BHP Billiton's demerger of South32. Argo shares were 1 cent higher at $8.29.
  • Skilled Group (SKE) said it is facing a write down of up to $67.4 million in relation to its takeover by rival labour hire business Programmed Maintenance Services. It will take the form of a non-cash impairment charge to goodwill of between $57 million and $67.4 million in its results for the 2014/15 financial year. SKE recently accepted Programme’s $652 million takeover offer. The deal is expected to be wrapped up in October. SKE shares closed at $1.585 a gain of 4.5 cents or 3%.

Tom Piotrowski - Market Analyst (Author)

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