Market finishes marginally higher
Posted
The Australian share market finished flat on Friday, after initially making gains on a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.
The All Ordinaries Index closed 6 points higher to 4,832 and the ASX 200 ended up a mere 4 points, at 4,818.
It was the big banks that led the gains this morning, before finishing mixed.
The National Australia Bank added 0.56 per cent to close at $26.90 and ANZ gained 0.83 per cent to $24.26.
However, Westpac gave up early gains to lose 0.37 per cent, to $26.90.
Shares in zinc miner CBH Resources surged 28.57 per cent to 18 cents, after Belgian metals group Nyrstar raised its takeover offer by 44 per cent.
Another big mover was Cape Lambert Resources, which gained almost 9 per cent to 48 cents, after it sold its Lady Annie copper mine in Queensland to China Sci-Tech holdings for $135 million.
Elsewhere in the mining sector, Rio Tinto managed a gain of 41 cents to $75.96 but rival BHP Billiton finished the day 16 cents lower, at $42.85.
Goldminer Newcrest closed 0.9 per cent higher at $34.21.
It was a day of losses for the retail sector; Billabong shares slumped 2.48 per cent to $10.60, Wesfarmers lost 0.96 percent to $31.98, and JB Hi-Fi dropped 0.46 per cent to $19.68.
However, Woolworths managed to close 0.49 per cent higher at $28.50.
Commodities and currencies
West Texas crude oil was fetching $US82.21 a barrel around 5:00pm (AEDT) and Tapis was worth $US85.96.
Spot gold was worth $US1,113 an ounce.
Around the same time, the Australian dollar was buying 91.59 US cents.
On the cross rates, it was at 83.01 Japanese yen, 66.89 euro cents, 60.81 British pence and it was worth $1.31 in New Zealand.
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