A nothing day today with volumes hopeless even an ordinary model wouldn’t get out of bed for. The market see-sawed between positive and negative as waited for the RBA minutes and Kev13 to pronounce the Carbon Tax dead and how we would pay for it. An early casualty of the changes was McMillan Shakespeare (A$15.36, -14.7%) which got pummeled after news on FBT on luxury cars came out. Banks were again the winners in this market with Westpac Banking (A$29.67, +1.1%) leading the charge followed by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (A$71.75, +0.7%) and National Australia Bank (A$30.10, +0.2%). Other positive influences on the market were Telstra (A$4.86, +0.6%) and BHP Billiton (A$33.43, +0.5%) and RIO Tinto (A$55.52, +1.4%) on their production report. Apart from the banks and TLS everything else was weaker, Wesfarmers (A$38.94, -0.3%), Woolworths (A$33.68, -0.3%), Treasury Wine Estates (A$4.80, -6.1%), News (A$33.03, -1.4%), Origin Energy (A$12.47, -1.1%), Orica (A$21.00, -2.1%) to name but a few.

In sectors today, energy was weaker with Oil Search (A$8.15, -0.9%), Origin Energy (A$12.47, -1.1%), Woodside Petroleum (A$37.41, -0.4%) and Santos (A$13.85, -0.6%) all slightly down. Media stocks were mixed with APN News & Media (A$0.255, -5.6%) weaker, as were Fairfax Media (A$0.525, -3.7%) and REA Group Ltd (A$29.91, -1.7%) but Ten Network (A$0.295, unch) remained unchanged as were Seven West Media (A$2.19, +0.9%). Golds were once again under pressure with Silver Lake Resources (A$0.71, -6.0%), Kingsgate Consolidated (A$1.53, unch), Evolution Mining (A$0.67, -2.9%) and Perseus Mining (A$0.515, -22.0%) and Newcrest Mining (A$11.39, -2.1%).

Big losers today included McMillan Shakespeare (A$15.36, -14.7%), Magellan Financial Group (A$11.95, -6.7%), Automotive  Group (A$3.43, -7.5%), Treasury Wine Estates (A$4.80, -6.1%) and Panaust (A$1.85, -4.6%) whilst in the winners enclosure were Paladin Energy Ltd (A$1.03, +7.3%), Envestra (A$1.125, +6.1%), Energy Resources of Australia (A$1.535, +4.1%) and Wotif.com (A$5.04, +3.3%).

Volume.. well hardly worth worrying about really!

Stocks in the News

RBA minutes released today and reckon rate cut is receding. Apparently the joke from Glenn about how long they had to deliberate about rate cuts was just that – a joke!

More corporate shenanigans with APA Group (A$6.23, -2.4%) bidding for the 70 % of APA Group (A$6.23, -2.4%) they do not own. Good for ENV but not so for APA.

RIO Tinto (A$55.52, +1.4%) boosted iron ore production by six per cent to a record 127.2 million tonnes during the first half of the year. The world’s second largest iron ore miner also shipped a record 118.6 million tonnes of the steelmaking mineral, a four per cent lift.

Treasury Wine Estates (A$4.80, -6.1%) continued their slide as they moved yesterday to write off their wine assets in the US. Not a great outcome and once again management looks pretty inept.

Another one bites the (red) dust! GlencoreXstrata said it will halt production of iron ore in Australia next month, citing deteriorating market conditions and ending a two-year experiment to gain a toehold in the sector.

Paladin Energy Ltd (A$1.03, +7.3%) had a great run today with investors cheering the uranium miner’s performance, notching up record production for the 2012-13 financial year.

Australia’s largest uranium pure-play produced 8.26 million pounds (mlb) of the heavy metal for the year, in line with guidance, and up 20 per cent on the previous year.

Perseus Mining (A$0.515, -22.0%) has been punished by investors today, are releasing an underwhelming half year report. Perseus reported gold production of just under 105,000 ounces for the past six months, meaning it has missed the lower end of its guidance. Shares in the gold miner were down by close to 17 per cent shortly after midday, trading at 55 cents.

Billabong International (A$0.25, -2.0%) is the final stages of agreeing a deal with private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners that could see the company sell off brands to repay its debts that are now owned by hedge funds. Not sure how much they are worth given the brands daggy nature as my son calls them.. Apparently RVCA is the only brand a teenager would be seen dead in!

Tomorrows news today

Spain’s prime minister says he will not give in to “blackmail”, amid calls for him to resign over alleged links to a suspect in a payments scandal. Mariano Rajoy said he would fulfil the mandate given by the Spanish people.

A former Goldman Sachs “Fabulous Fabrice”, the trader has gone on trial in New York to face charges that he defrauded investors. The civil case against Fabrice Tourre, 34, is being brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The disclosure two years ago of emails from Tourre, who denies the charges, sparked widespread debate about Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis.

Bernanke, scheduled to testify before a congressional committee tomorrow, said last week that “highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what’s needed.” Gold has fallen 6.6 percent since Bernanke signaled on May 22 that the central bank’s bond-purchase program could be tapered should the job market continue to improve.

Indian (SENSEX) stocks tumbled the most in two weeks after the Reserve Bank of India raised two interest rates yesterday, stepping up efforts to aid the rupee after its plunge to a record low.The S&P BSE Sensex slid 1.3 percent to 19,771.18 at 9:30 a.m. in Mumbai, ending three days of gains.

Good to see Maccas opening their first Vietnam store in Ho Chi Minh City next year…interestingly Iceland,has closed all its Maccas stores this year as the high cost of imprt of their products has killed the business model.

GlaxoSmithKline behaved like a criminal “godfather” in China, dispensing some 3bn yuan (£323m) in bribes since 2007, and accepting “sexual favours” in return for business, Chinese police claimed.

And as most of Europe bans shale and ‘fracking’, we see the benefits for the US in its new golden industry, Worryingly more than $160 billion of bets placed by international oil companies including on natural gas in Australia are getting riskier, as it becomes the latest major energy producer to grapple with North America’s surging output of shale gas.

Clarence

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