Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange early on Tuesday:
AAI – ALCOA INCORPORATED – steady at $10.50
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is meeting with workers from the struggling Victorian aluminum manufacturer Alcoa.
ANZ – ANZ BANKING GROUP LTD – up 35 cents at $21.77
ANZ Banking Group will slash another 1,000 jobs in 2012.
The move has come under immediate attack from the Finance Sector Union (FSU), which says there’s no justification for axing so many jobs given the size of bank profits in Australia.
CBA – COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – up 41 cents at $50.29
NAB – NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LTD – up 32 cents at $23.26
WBC – WESTPAC BANKING GROUP – up 30 cents at $21.15
ANZ – ANZ BANKING GROUP LTD – up 35 cents at $21.77
A retail lobby group is calling on the Commonwealth and National Australia banks to “show some backbone” and not raise interest rates.
CDD – CARDNO LTD – down seven cents at $6.12
Environmental services firm Cardno has won a $22 million contract to help provide major infrastructure upgrades at several Rio Tinto iron ore mines in Western Australia.
JBH – JB HI-FI LTD – up four cents at $12.03
JB Hi-Fi says its net profit fell 9.4 per cent in the first half of 2012, with a challenging post-christmas period, but the consumer products retailer expects a five-per cent increase in full-year sales.
LEI – LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LTD – down 47 cents at $23.38
Leighton Holdings says its first-half profits have jumped 57 per cent and that it’s well-positioned for 2012.
Separately: Shares in construction giant Leighton Holdings are down by more than three per cent amid an Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation into alleged improper payments made by one of its international subsidiaries.
MTN – MARATHON RESOURCES LTD – up 0.7 cents at 7.5 cents
Marathon Resources has accepted $5 million compensation after its hopes of one day mining uranium at Mt Gee were dashed by a proposed mining ban at South Australia’s environmentally-sensitive Arkaroola.
MMX – MURCHISON Metals LTD – up 0.5 cents at 44 cents
Murchison Metals shareholders have voted in favour of the company’s divestment of key assets to its equal joint venture partner ,Japan’s Mitsubishi, clearing the way for the $325 million deal to proceed.
ORI – ORICA LTD – up 11 cents at $25.81
Orica has held off restarting its ammonia plant near Newcastle because part of it isn’t working properly.
QAN – QANTAS AIRWAYS LTD – down 0.5 cents at $1.575
Qantas shouldn’t respond to the challenges facing it by cutting jobs, federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten says.
RIO – RIO TINTO LTD – up 45 cents at $70.43
Mining company Rio Tinto says it will go beyond the call of environmental safeguards to protect a newly discovered freshwater crab if it is allowed to expand a Cape York bauxite mine.
SGT – SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LTD – up two cents at $2.31
Australia’s number two telco Optus says it has posted a resilient third-quarter result where net profit rose four per cent and operating revenue increased two per cent.
SUN – SUNCORP GROUP LTD – up nine cents at $8.30
Regional bank and insurance firm Suncorp Group says the outlook for the agribusiness sector is positive despite the devastating floods in Queensland and NSW.
TSE – TRANSFIELD SERVICES LTD – up seven cents at $2.27
Transfield Services’ contract for maintenance and services on New Zealand’s electricity grid has been renewed.
WES – WESFARMERS LTD – up 34 cents at $29.69
WOW – WOOLWORTHS LTD – up 26 cents at $24.71
Coles and other major retailers are responsible for driving down safety standards on the nation’s roads, a union says.
Separately: Independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for the sacking Australia’s petrol commissioner in the wake of a report which says motorists are being gouged by supermarkets and fuel companies.
