offshore selling

Friday October 21, 11:23 AM
Australian Shares Midday: Down 0.9%; Support Emerges
SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--The Australian share market was down 0.9% at midday Friday, but well off its intraday low, as good buying support emerged after a week of heavy selling.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was trading at 4342.5 after falling to an intraday low of 4311.1, its lowest level since July 20.

Dealers said the market was supported by local fund buying for the first time in a few days. However, they added that Asian funds had continued selling Australian shares on Friday and that further offshore selling was likely in coming weeks.

"I've heard there's been some more offshore selling around today," said Ric Klussman, institutional dealer at Hudson Securities. "We definitely do not think it's finished, but there are some bargains out there." Klussman pointed to Transurban as a case in point.

"People selling that (Transurban) are mad. It's an 8% yield and a great defensive stock."

Transurban was up 1.1% after hitting a 10-month low of A$6.25.

Among the strongest performers were Record Investments and Boral. Record Investments rose 7.6 on a takeover bid from Allco. Boral was up 3.2% after reiterating its full year earnings guidance.

BHP Billiton was down 1.6% at A$19.70 after falling to A$19.40.

Oil miners were hard-hit as crude oil fell below $60 for the first time in three months. Woodside Petroleum was down 3.4%, Oil Search was down 4.9% and Hardman Resources was down 4.2%.

Gold Miners saw some recovery despite a further slide in gold overnight.

Newcrest Mining was up 0.8% and Lihir Gold was up 0.3%.

Macquarie Bank was down 2.6%, while major trading banks were mixed. ANZ was down 0.8%, while Westpac was up 0.2%.

-By Sydney bureau; 61-2-8235-2950; [email protected]
-Edited by Paul Dekkers