Asian stocks lower on global fears; Aussie market also down despite strong Lihir, Bluescope results

By Chris Weston*

Across Asia, regional indexes are mainly lower following on from the soft close on Wall Street on Friday night where ongoing concerns about the global economic recovery continued to weigh on investor sentiment. The Nikkei 225 is the worst performer in the region, currently lower by 0.6% while the Kospi is also weaker by 0.2%.

(Updated with Sky Australia interview below)

The Shanghai Composite is again doing its own thing to be higher by 1.7% with the Hang Seng also seeing gains of 0.2%. In Australia, the ASX 200 closed down 0.5% at 4438 having traded to an intra-day low of 4402. Losses for the day were heaviest felt in the financial, Healthcare and material sectors while the energy sector is the standout performer on the upside, largely courtesy of a new gas discovery by Woodside Petroleum. Having seen a small rebound in Friday’s session, the financial sector once again resumed its downward spiral to close lower by 1.1%.

CBA was the biggest decliner, trading without its $1.70 final dividend, but had a reasonable performance given it is lower by only 3c after accounting for the dividend. Elsewhere in the sector, Macquarie Group, Axa Asia-Pacific and IAG were all down between 1.3% and 2.7%. The materials sector reversed some of Friday’s gains, to close 0.4% to the downside.

While the sector is broadly lower with weaker base metal prices weighing, it’s a mixed picture across some of the sector heavyweights. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were weaker between 1% and 0.9%, however stronger-than-expected earnings reports from Bluescope Steel and Newcrest Mining helped minimise losses.

Strong Bluescope, Lihir results

Bluescope shares surged by more than 3% after the company delivered a FY 2010 net profit of $126m which topped analyst expectations of $114m as well as resuming its dividend, declaring a final dividend of 5c. Meanwhile, Newcrest Mining was 1.4% firmer after comfortably beating expectations by announcing a 58% increase in underlying profit of $763.7m and declaring a higher-than-expected dividend of 20c.

Soon-to-be takeover partner Lihir Gold also benefited from the stronger result, closing higher by 1.2%. Across in the industrial space, the sector was flat coming off lows after a stellar 5.9% gain from construction giant Leighton Holdings who has reported a FY profit of $612m and work-in-hand of $41.5b, both of which are records for the company. Despite a further 0.5% fall in crude prices during Friday’s US session the energy sector closed in positive territory by 0.7%.

While names such as Caltex and Worley Parsons were weaker between 1.9% and 0.3%, Woodside Petroleum is surging by more than 3.8% after a new gas discovery by the company has the market speculating a final investment decision for its Pluto expansion could now be back on track for the end of 2010. Today has definitely been a “good news day” - that is, those stocks that have reported better-than-expected earnings results or announced positive operational developments (like Woodside with its new gas discovery) have managed to get traction with investors, even in a weak market.

This is a positive development because it does show the market is listening and is receptive to good news. When sentiment is utterly shot, it’s generally a one-way trade, where even good news gets no reception. That said, the market is convincingly lower, so you’d hate to think where we might be today if it weren’t for the like of Woodside, Newcrest, Bluescope and Leighton, to mention a few.

Today’s trading action might also be a preview of what we might be likely to see over the near term, or at least until the economic environment picks up.

That is, a struggling and sluggish broader market punctuated by the odd positive earnings report, M&A rumour or prospective drill intersection – a real stock picker’s/trader’s market. Unfortunately though, the odd piece of good news won’t be enough to see the market make a sustainable push higher.

* Chris Weston is an Institutional Dealer at IG Markets in Melbourne. IG Markets sponsors the news section on Interest.co.nz.

See a Double Shot Interview with Chris Weston here.