us futures very positive, page-3

Once she breaks and holds under 4300 we may be in trouble.

Aus shares closing: ALL ORDS DOWN 19.9 AT 4325.2

16:35, Friday, 21 October 2005

Sydney - Friday - October 21: (RWE Aust Business News) - The
Australian sharemarket closed lower today but well off its lows as
bargain-hunters moved in after this morning's heavy selling.
The All Ordinaries index - down 68 points at one stage - finished
19.9 points weaker at 4325.2 and declined 46.1 points over the week.
The ASX200 index fell 15.8 points to 4364.3 after plumbing
4311.1, and ended with a weekly deficit of 41.8 points.
On the economic front the Bureau of Statistics reported sales of
new motor vehicles rose 2 per cent, seasonally adjusted, to 85,477 in
September.
The Bureau also said prices of imported goods rose 2.6 per cent
in the September quarter, while export prices were up 4.7 per cent.
In futures the December SPI200 contract retreated 25 points to
4361.
Trading was hectic with turnover of $3.5 billion, comprising 324
rises, 690 falls and 314 steadies.
BHP Billiton was the day's busiest stock by value with turnover
of $443 million, and closed 2c firmer at $20.03.
However, Rio Tinto lost 48c to $55.82 and Alumina shed 3c to
$5.64.
Banks made a strong recovery, leaving Commonwealth up 19c at
$37.89 and Westpac rose 9c to $20.50, but ANZ lost 11c to $23.45 and
National shed 10c to $32.10.
St George advanced 22c to $26.72, Suncorp-Metway lost 36c to
$18.60, Macquarie Bank declined $1.01 to $62.40, AMP finished steady at
$7.20, QBE dropped 28c to $17.66 while Promina put on 2c to $4.67.
Lend Lease slid 35c to $13.50, Bluescope Steel dipped 8c to $8.19,
CSR gained 9c to $2.99, Orica slumped 50c to $18.50, Telstra rose 2c to
$4.10, PBL lost 16c to $16.09, John Fairfax put on 2c to $4.14, Flight
Centre slid 18c to $13.55, Wesfarmers declined 46c to $36.29, Leighton
shed 6c to $13.95, Brambles gained 12c to $8.31, Toll Holdings fell 14c
to $11.92, Qantas eased 2c to $3.35, Woolworths rose 11c to $15.86, Coles
Myer slipped 7c to $9.62, Coca-Cola Amatil added 3c to $7.43, AGL lost
10c to $14.25, Mayne Group was 2c firmer at $5.22 and Ansell declined 16c
to $10.60.
Boral jumped 27c to $7.47 after the annual meeting was told the
company expects second-half profit to significantly exceed the first
half.
Another bright spot was Record Investments which climbed 51c to
$6.94 and touched $7.20 after disclosing it has entered preliminary
discussions with its largest shareholder, Allco Finance Group, over a
potential merger.
Woodside Petroleum dropped 95c to $29.88 in oil and gas, Santos
eased 4c to $11.07, Caltex slumped 84c to $19.10 and Oil Search was down
13c at $3.13.
Among the goldminers Newcrest rose 23c to $17.48 and Lihir edged
up 1c to $1.575 but Newmont lost 7c to $5.75.
In New Zealand the NZSX50 index fell 48.1 points to 3240.9.
Tokyo's Nikkei rose nine points to 13,200 while Hong Kong's Hang
Seng had eked out a one-point gain to 14.410 by the mid-session interval.
Gold is worth $US461.25 oz and the Australian dollar is fetching
US75.19c.
Ten-year bond yields were two points lower at 5.365 per cent.