daytrading sept 26 morning, page-50

Sydney - Monday - September 26: (RWE Aust Business News)

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The Australian sharemarket will be struggling again today after gold and base metals took a serious dive on Friday.

Traders put the skids under gold which shed a stunning $US101.70 to $US1,637.70 oz after touching a low of $US1,629.50.

On the LME, nickel was dumped $US1,580 to $US17,925 tonne on the cash contract while tin tumbled $US1,100 on $US19,100 tonne and copper got off lightly dropping $US500.50 to $US7,290 tonne.

The Australian dollar plumbed well below parity with the greenback, plumbing US96.73c on the New York market although it settled at US97.87c.

The only saver was equities with Wall Street's Dow finishing 38 points in front at 10,771.5.

The Europeans also rallied with London up 15, Paris 28, Frankfurt 32 and Zurich up 10.

Investors were encouraged by news that the European Central Bank may insert extra liquidity to stabilise the European banking system while the IMF offered support through the euro-zone G-20 members which have pledged to "maximize" the region's bailout fund to fight market contagion following the region's debt crisis.

The RBA remains confident in regards to Australian banks.

In its twice-yearly Financial Stability Review just released, the RBA said that the local banking system remained in good shape but warned against lowering standards to boost growth.

Westpac would be the cheapest since it almost went down after being pursued years ago by the late Kerry Packer.

The central bank noted that the Australian banking system remains in a relatively strong condition compared with some overseas.

On Friday the ASX 200 finished 62 points behind at 3903 while the All Ords dropped 66 to 3979.

Over the week they fell 246 and 251 points respectively.

The Aussie market has been tracking Wall St to its detriment.

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FOSTER'S GROUP (FGL) closed steady at $5.26 on Friday after SABMiller upped the ante and put $5.5325 a share on the table compared with the original bid of $4.90.

Foster's chairman David Crawford and his team should be congratulated in getting a better deal after they astutely told the UK brewer to go away when the price was $4.90 and copping some criticism.

Some fund managers still think they might have got more but in the present climate a 13 per cent rise on the original offer is not a bad outcome.

Mr Crawford remarked, "This is a compelling proposal from SABMiller and represents the value inherent in this iconic Australia company and its brands and people."

Foster's should be a coup for SABMiller because it is acknowledged as one of the best beer technicians in the world today.

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Strangely, when things are tough, there are some interesting throwbacks which contradict the economic climate.

Luxury accessories retailer OROTONGROUP (ORL) has gone against the market trend in the last two sessions.

On Thursday the shares jumped 50c to $7.67 and they added another 13c to $7.78 on Friday compared with $7.10 a week earlier.

The boost to market confidence came from Oroton reporting a net profit of $24.79 million for the year to July, from $23 million in the previous corresponding period.

CEO Sally Mcdonald says the retailer had lifted sales margin and profit as it rolled out at least four stores in Asia this year.

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Perth-based NZ coal explorer BATHURST RESOURCES (BTU) looks to have a lot going for it if it can get past three environmental appeals.

With the period for lodging appeals on the granting of the Escarpment Mine resource consents now closed, the company confirmed that it has been notified of three appeals to the Environment Court.

The appellants are West Coast Environmental Network Incorporated, Fairdown-Whareatea Residents Association Incorporated and The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated.

Within the next 15 business days, any person who made a submission on the original resource consent application can lodge a notice at the Court joining the process and supporting or opposing the appeals.

Bathurst noted that the two Councils that granted the resource consents for the Escarpment Mine project on August 26 have informed the company that they intend to defend their own decision through the appeals process, alongside Bathurst.

A pre-hearing conference involving the company and the appellants will be convened by the appointed Judge in due course, where the formal timetable for the court hearing will be set which will include a process for facilitating mediation between all parties.

The Environment Court actively encourages parties to try and settle the matters through mediation, which has proven to be a successful resolution method in the past.

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What a difference a name makes when it suddenly disappears, as shown by NEXUS ENERGY (NXS) after MD Richard Cottee suddenly quit the company.

The broking fraternity had pinned its hopes on Mr Cottee reviving the company but as soon as the news filtered into the market the shares more than halved to 12c.

The bleak outlook was slightly redeemed Friday after the shares gained 3.5c to 15.5c but still a long way from the money.

Brokers had earlier been enthusiastic about the stock with recommendations lifting the price briefly to 50c.

In 2008 Nexus shares changed hands up to $1.70 on optimism over prospects for the Crux liquids project in WA, which the market believed could be successful through the efforts of Mr Cottee.

Nexus told the ASX yesterday that the share sell-off did not have anything to do with the prospects, stating that negotiations to commercialise the Crux field and Echuca Shoals are continuing.