Slow Start in Sharemarket

With the waning of the hope that solutions will be introduced to help solve the euro zone debt crisis by Europe’s policymakers, investors are now doubtful of the market and Australian shares are mightily affected.

Today, the Australian market opened half a percent lower with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 22 points while All Ordinaries was down 17.3 points.

Financial news on the different companies does not help:

• In the steelmaking industry, BlueScope Steel has reported a $1.04 billion loss for the financial year.

• Financial services company, Chalenger reported that their full-year profit is down some 43 percent from $261 million last year to $149 million this year. Looking at the net profit though shows a rise to $297 million excluding investment gains and losses.

• In the banking industry, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank shows that profit has fallen 43 percent. The net profit from June last year to June this year is $195 million which is a far cry from the $342 million the previous year.

• With the slowing of China’s mineral requirement for coal, iron ore, and, steel, Yancoal Australia stops expansion.

On a bright spot, the contract miner, MacMahon shows a seven percent increase in shares. Financials show that there is a $1 million increase in profit this year for the builder.

In the other regions, Japan and India both show a positive increase in the sharemarket performance at +0.5 percent and +0.2 percent, respectively. Hong Kong, Korea, Shanghai, and Taiwan are all seeing low performances at the start of the week.