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ASX Afternoon Market Wrap � 10th March 2010 � Share Market Closes Flat.

10-Mar: Shares have ended the day virtually unchanged, after eight straight session of gains, with the property sector hit by losses.

At close of trade the ASX 200 fell 0.1 points to 4820.0 and the All Ordinaries was up 0.5 points to 4829.8.

At the close most sectors were posting losses with the consumer staples sector posting the highest losses.

The number of home loans plummeted by 7.9% in January, the biggest fall since June 2000, after the phasing out of last year's first-home buyers' grant increase and interest rate rises reduced demand. January's result follows a 5.5% drop in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. Economists had been predicting a 2% increase in January.

In company news, Orica Limited says defeat of an appeal in the Federal Court against an amended tax assessment will cost it a further $92 million. The explosives, paints and chemicals supplier was appealing an amended assessment by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) relating to Orica's sale of its pharmaceuticals business in 1998. The ATO had demanded Orica pay extra tax, penalties and interest in relation to the sale of the pharmaceuticals business to Zeneca.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited announced a new issue of residential mortgage backed securities. The offer will be made under the bank's Torrens securitisation program. The securities will be issued in Australian currency, with an expected equivalent value of $650 million. The final tranche sizes will be determined by market conditions, the Company said.

Lihir Gold Limited posted today�s greatest gains up 9 cents or 3.11% to $2.98.

Nufarm Limited posted today�s greatest losses down 82 cents or 8.91% to $8.28.

At 1617 AEDT the 12 GICS indices were:-

Discretion 1,642.7 down 6.4
Consumer Staples 7,843.1 down 45.9
Energy 15,457.6 down 28.4
Financials 4,805.0 up 5.2
Fin-x-property 5,637.7 up 29.0
Gold 5,639.3 up 37.6
Healthcare 8,822.1 down 12.3
Industrials 3,985.3 down 16.1
Info Technology 722.9 up 20.1
Materials 12,584.4 down 27.9
Metals and Mining 4,497.4 down 11.2
Resources 5,331.8 down 13.5
Telecommunications 1,027.0 up 25.6
Utilities 4,365.4 up 54.1

Individual stock performances

BHP Billiton was at $43.24 down 16 cents. Rio Tinto was at $75.35 down 80 cents.

Banks

Westpac was at $27.33 up 36 cents. NAB was at $26.80 down 7 cents. ANZ was at $23.94 up 12 cents. Commonwealth Bank was at $55.69 up 48 cents.

Media

News Corp was at $18.30 down 16 cents. The Seven Network was at $7.99 down 8 cents. John Fairfax was at $1.74 down 2 and a half cents.

Retail

Woolworths was at $28.20 up 8 cents. Harvey Norman was at $3.92 down 5 cents. David Jones was at $5.07 up 3 cents.

Toll Holdings was at $7.09 down 7 cents. Qantas was at $2.84 up 7 cents.

Food

Coca Cola was at $11.17 down 29 cents. Goodman Fielder was at $1.49 down 3 cents.

Insurance

AMP was at $6.16 up 6 cents. QBE was at $21.41 up 31 cents. IAG was at $4.00 down 3 cents.

Gold

Gold steadied after the euro bounced slightly higher against the US dollar though weaker oil prices could prompt new selling, traders said.

At the close gold was trading at $US1,124.50 an ounce, up $US2.20.

Oil

Oil fell for a second day as the dollar strengthened and an industry-funded report showed an increase in US crude supplies, fanning concern that demand in the world�s biggest energy user is slow to recover.

At the close US light crude was trading at $US81.54 a barrel, up US5 cents.

Dollar

The Australian dollar was slightly higher today as a strong consumer confidence report prompted anticipation of firm official labour force figures.

At 1600 AEDT the Australia dollar was:

AUD/USD .9151
AUD/EUR .6730
AUD/GBP .6113
AUD/JPY 82.395
AUD/NZD 1.296

ASX Midday Market Wrap � 10th March 2010 � Share Market in the Red.

The Australian share market has moved into the red, after eight straight sessions of gains, led down by weaker materials and property sectors.

At 1217 AEST the ASX 200 was down 7.0 points to 4813.1 and the All Ordinaries fell 6.5 points to 4822.8.

At midday most sectors posted losses with the consumer staples sector posting the highest losses.

In company news, Magnetic Resources NL announced it has now completed 94% of a 3,480 squared kilometre high resolution aeromagnetic survey of its tenements over multiple target areas in the south west of Western Australia. New data has been received which has added to the targets identified so far. These new targets bring the total strike length of targets for the Sewell, Wubin, Dalwallinu, Jubuk and Quairading projects to an extensive 188 kilometres, with 6% of the detailed aeromagnetic survey yet to be completed. The Company said further results of the aeromagnetic survey will be released as they come to hand.

Southern Gold Limited reported that assays results have confirmed significant gold and silver mineralisation, including 1 metre @ 9.09 g/t gold and up to 300 g/t silver, in the first of seven new holes drilled at its 100% owned Snoul gold project in Cambodia. Alteration, veins and sulphides were intersected in all Phase 1 drillholes at Anchor. Assay results of the remaining six core drillholes are eagerly anticipated and are expected in March‐April 2010. Southern Gold has scheduled an exploration program comprising 2,300 metres of trenching and a total of 2,000 metres of core drilling at Anchor for the 2010 field season including the just completed 714 metre Phase 1 campaign.

Catalpa Resources Limited reported the second batch of interim assay results from an RC drill programme currently underway at the Golden Point prospect at the Company�s Edna May Gold Project in Westonia, Western Australia. The results remain highly encouraging including best intercepts of 8 metres @ 2.77g/t Au from 37 metres, 21 metres @ 1.89g/t Au from 47 metres, 1 metre @ 6.45g/t Au from 55 metres and 1 metre @ 7.10g/t Au from 62 metres. An updated Mineral Resource estimate is expected in April following completion of drilling and interpretation of results.

Lihir Gold Limited posted today�s greatest gains up 7 cents or 2.42% to $2.96.

Nufarm Limited posted today�s greatest losses down 75 cents or 2.15% to $8.45.

At 1200AEST the 12 GICS indices were:-

Discretion 1,642.7 down 6.4
Consumer Staples 7,839.4 down 49.6
Energy 15,465.4 down 20.6
Financials 4,805.2 up 5.4
Fin-x-property 5,631.4 up 22.7
Gold 5,632.0 up 30.3
Healthcare 8,810.2 down 33.2
Industrials 3,988.6 down 12.8
Info Technology 716.4 up 13.6
Materials 12,539.1 down 73.2
Metals and Mining 4,479.0 down 29.6
Resources 5,316.1 down 29.2
Telecommunications 1,022.6 up 21.2
Utilities 4,355.1 up 43.8

Individual stock performances

BHP Billiton was at $42.96 down 44 cents. Rio Tinto was at $75.15 down $1.00.

Banks

Westpac at $26.95 down 2 cents. NAB at $26.64 down 23 cents. ANZ at $23.75 down 7 cents. Commonwealth Bank was at $55.59 up 38 cents.

Media

News Corp at $18.21 down 25 cents. The Seven Network at $7.97 down 10 cents. John Fairfax at $1.76 down half a cent.

Retail

Woolworths at $28.15 up 3 cents. Harvey Norman at $3.90 down 7 cents. David Jones was at $5.06 up 2 cents.

Toll Holdings at $7.10 down 6 cents. Qantas at $2.81 up 4 cents.

Gold

Gold is currently trading at $US1,121.60 an ounce, down US70 cents.

Oil

Light sweet crude oil is currently trading at $US81.18 a barrel, down US31 cents.

Dollar

The Australian dollar opened higher after a business confidence survey boosted traders' hopes of an interest rate rise in April.

At 1200 AEST the Australian dollar was:

AUD/USD .9143
AUD/EUR .6723
AUD/GBP .6103
AUD/JPY 82.281
AUD/NZD 1.300

US Stock Market Report � 10th March 2010 � US Stocks Seesaw.

Stocks in the US managed gains late on Tuesday at the end of a choppy session as investors mulled the latest corporate deal and profit news on the anniversary of the bear market bottom.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 11.86 points, or 0.11% to 10,564.38 and the Nasdaq composite was up 8.47, or 0.36% to 2,340.68.

A US stock advance fizzled out Tuesday, one year after what many consider to be the bottom of the bear market. The Dow ended at a 12-year low of 6,547.05, as months of stock weakness in response to the financial market crisis pushed the blue-chip average to its nadir. Since then, the Dow has gained 61.2% through Monday's close.

In the same time period, the S&P 500 gained 68%, bouncing off of 12 and a half year lows. The Nasdaq's gain of 84% was off of six-year lows. The gains were fueled by bets on an economic recovery and the impact of trillions of dollars of government stimulus injected into the system.

In company news, Cisco Systems said it is introducing a new Internet router that will power the most heavily-trafficked parts of the web at twelve times the speed of its competitors. Cisco shares were little changed on the news, but the stock was heavily traded, with over $US150 million shares changing hands.

Texas Instruments updated its first-quarter profit estimates late Monday, saying it expects to earn between US48 cents and US52 cents per share on revenue of $US3.07 billion to $US3.19 billion.

The new forecast was an improvement over the chipmaker's earlier forecast, but investors took a 'sell the news' approach, sending shares 3% lower.

Northrop Grumman dropped out of the competition late Monday to build tanker planes for the US Air Force, leaving Boeing the only bidder in a contract that could be worth as much as $US50 billion.

Merck and Sanofi-Aventis said they are combining their animal health care businesses to create one of the biggest in the world. The combined business will have about a 29% market share in a global market worth around $US19 billion. Merck shares fell and Sanofi-Aventis shares were little changed.

In commodities, COMEX gold for May delivery fell $US1.70 to $US1,122.90 an ounce.

US light crude oil for April delivery fell US38 cents to settle at $US81.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currency trading, the US dollar was up versus the euro and down versus the yen.

One Australian dollar currently buys:

AUD/USD .9140
AUD/EUR .6720
AUD/GBP .6095
AUD/JPY 82.239
AUD/NZD 1.300

In overseas trade Britain�s FTSE 100 fell 0.08%, Germany�s DAX was up 0.17% and France�s CAC 40 climbed 0.17%.

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