re: bhp, rio & wpl - there's a bad smell about the Howdy...

re: bhp, rio & wpl - there's a bad smell about the Howdy Mode,

This from yahoo finance today, I have posted the url at the bottom if you want to check it out for yourself.




Reuters
China curbs shouldn't hurt Australian miners -analysts
Thursday April 29, 3:06 am ET
By Sonali Paul


MELBOURNE, April 29 (Reuters) - Investors pummelled Australian miners on Thursday on fears that China's hot demand for metals would ease, but analysts said the sell-off was driven by sentiment and overdone.



It would take some time before the market saw any evidence of a drop in Chinese demand, and economic recoveries in the United States, Japan and possibly Europe would likely offset any tapering off in Chinese growth, they said.

"Demand picking up in Europe, the U.S., Japan, plus India and non-China Asia we believe will compensate for potential disappointment in China," said UBS analyst Shaun Giacomo.

Moves by China to slow capital spending and comments by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that the country needed to take "very forceful" steps to curb surging credit spooked the Australian mining sector, which has soared over the past year on booming exports to China.

"The market has become somewhat China-centric. So anything that's likely to dampen enthusiasm in that area at the same time that you're getting mixed signals from other areas is probably not a good thing," said BT Financial Group analyst Tim Barker.

However, the latest import statistics from China showed iron ore imports at a record high for a second consecutive month, while copper imports remained strong and nickel imports were a bit lower but still above trend.

"The physicals are suggesting that China is still importing and using this stuff. I don't think you can turn the tap on and off in a month," said Giacomo.

Shares in BHP Billiton (Australia:BHP.AX - News; London:BLT.L - News) and Rio Tinto (Australia:RIO.AX - News; London:RIO.L - News), the world's top two diversified miners, both sank around 3.5 percent, while copper and nickel miner WMC Resources (Australia:WMR.AX - News) slid six percent, and Alumina Ltd (Australia:AWC.AX - News) fell 4.8 percent.

Giacomo said while the falls were overdone, the stocks might continue to fall for another day or two before investors tuned back into the fundamentals of supply and demand.

Another analyst, who declined to be named, said that with Thursday's share price declines and with the supply-demand outlook still favouring the miners whether or not China's growth eased, the mining stocks were heading towards good value.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rm/040429/minerals_australia_china_1.html




Regards


Commy