Aussie market slide not as bad as Wall St

The Australian share market had eased just over 1 per cent by the middle of the day, a small echo of Wall Street's 2.6 per cent slide.

At 1:18pm (AEST) the All Ordinaries index was down 43 points to 3,832 and the ASX 200 was down 45 point to 3,833.

Asian markets have defied America and Europe's negative lead overnight, with the Nikkei also down a modest 0.9 per cent, the Hang Seng flat and the Shanghai composite index slightly higher.Major moversHealth company Novogen is down 9.5 per cent to 53 cents.Murchison Metals and Bluescope Steel have both reacted to increased global economic concerns with falls of 5.3 and 4.8 per cent respectively.Roc Oil led declines among energy companies after crude oil prices tumbled on the worse than expected US jobless numbers. It was down 3.9 per cent to 74 cents.News Corporation's Australian securities have fallen 51 cents to $12.75 on news of the worsening employment situation in its major market.Qantas is also down 3.8 per cent amid renewed demand concerns and increased competition on its major Sydney - Los Angeles route, with Delta Airways' first flight on that corridor taking place today.BHP Billiton is down 3 per cent on lower metal and oil prices, as well as news that it will be taking an $848 million write down after selling its Yabalu nickel refinery.One of the few big gainers was Energy Developments which had surged 14.5 per cent higher to $2.29 by 1:50pm after annoucning that a prospective buyer of the business had raised its indicative offer price to $2.80 a share. The company will now enter a period of due dilligence with its suitors, but it says there is no guarantee the takeover will end up going ahead.Commodities, currenciesOil has fallen sharply, with West Texas crude now at US$66.48 a barrel, and Tapis at US$70.37.

The rise in the US dollar has wiped out gains in gold, leaving it broadly steady at US$933.15.

The Australian dollar fell sharply on the US unemployment figures, but has now stabilised at 79.59 US cents.

More Quotes and Company Information:BHP BILLITON (ASX: BHP.ax)BLUESCOPE STEEL LIMITED (ASX: BSL.ax)ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED (ASX: ENE.ax)NEWS CORPORATION LIMITED (ASX: NCP.ax)QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED (ASX: QAN.ax) ... read original article
Fri 3rd July 2009 - 02:27pm