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Epic & Msn data

Epic	ASX
Time:	11:54:00
Mid Price:	2613.10
Change Today:
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Fifty Two Week High:
Fifty Two Week Low:
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Period & price data

Period	Price
Now:	2613.10
3 Months ago:
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1 Year ago:

Additional information

Additional	Information
Market:	All Share Index
Sector:	General Mining
Epic:	ASX
News:	Latest news
Web Site:	UK Market Wrap
Other Articles:	09-02-201009-02-201008-02-2010

Rio Tinto, Xstrata, ENRC, Antofagasta and Kazakhmys decline as copper and nickel slide

Overview: the FTSE 100 corrected after yesterday’s rally, sitting about 0.6% below the opening level at mid afternoon. The blue chip index was dragged down by losses in the financial sector with insurance focused investor Resolution (LSE: RSL) emerging as the leading faller in the FTSE 100 for the second day in a row, this time with a 3% decline on top of yesterday’s loss of 1%.

Other top fallers included quality and safety services provider Intertek (LSE: ITRK) and commercial property company British Land (LSE: BLND), which slid 3.5% and 2.8% respectively. Investment management company Man Group (LSE: EMG) and airline British Airways (LSE: BAY) also made it to the top fallers list with losses of 2.2% and 1.5% respectively.

Interdealer broker ICAP (LSE: IAP) led the blue chips, rising 4% after announcing a strong set of interim results. Telecom company Cable & Wireless (LSE: CW) followed with a 2% climb after launching a £20 million offering of convertible bonds. The proceeds will be used by Worldwide for general corporate purposes following its demerger from the company.

Energy companies Centrica (LSE: CNA) and Scottish & Southern Energy (LSE: SSE) and supermarket chain Morrison (LSE: MRW) also tacked on 2%.

Utility companies Severt Trent (LSE: SVT) and United Utilities (LSE: UU) added 1.5%, as did power generation company International Power (LSE: IPR), consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser (LSE: RB) and asset management company Schroders (LSE: SDRC).

This morning’s UK inflation update for October showed an increase to 1.5% from 1.1% following eight months of declines in the inflation rate, which brought it down to five year lows.

Stock index futures in the US declined, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street following yesterday's surge.

Commodities

Oil prices rose with December Brent Crude reaching US$78.41/barrel and US light, sweet crude improving to US$78.44/barrel.

Major oil and gas stocks were mixed today. BG Group (LSE: BG) led the sector with a gain of neatly 1%, while Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was up 0.5%. Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) headed in opposite directions with BP posting a marginal gain and Shell sitting just below the opening level.

Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) rose marginally, while Petrofac (LSE: PFC) started the day with an insignificant loss.

Midcaps were more volatile with Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) shedding 1.6% after Emirates National Oil Company said its offer of 455 pence per share for the company was final, and Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) tacking on 2.3%. Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) was flat.

Eastern Europe focused junior Aurelian Oil & Gas (AIM: AUL) led the sector after announcing a gas discovery in the Voitinel-1 well in Romania, which previously hit a dry target. The company rallied 10% on the news.

US focused junior Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) followed, tacking on 3%.

Africa and FSU operating oil and gas junior Victoria Oil & Gas (AIM: VOG) was among the leading fallers with a loss of almost 5%, while Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) followed with a 4.5% decline. EU operating Rome-based oil junior Mediterranean Oil & Gas (AIM: MOG) and North Sea explorers Xcite Energy (AIM: XEL) both lost 3.5%, while Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI), Ukraine focused gas producer, Regal Petroleum (AIM: RPT) and Europe focused oil and gas developer Ascent Resources (AIM: AST) all lost about 3%.

Gold, silver and platinum retreat

Precious metals retreated after rallying on Monday. Gold was down to US$1,129/oz, silver slid to US$18.10/oz and platinum moved down to US$1,437/oz.

Mining stocks were in decline this morning. Platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) was at the bottom of the pile with a loss of 3.2%, while silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) lost nearly 1% and gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) declined marginally.

Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) was down 1.3%.

Midcaps were mixed. While gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) and Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) posted small losses, silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) posted a small gain.

Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) led the way, surging 13% after trading 20 million shares for a 1.33% stake in Swiss uranium junior Uranio AG. Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) and Kyrgyzstan focused gold explorer and developer Chaarat Gold Holdings (AIM: CGH) followed, advancing 7.5% and 5% respectively.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) added 3.5%.

Philippines focused Metals Exploration (AIM: MML) headed in the opposite direction, shedding 9%.

Miners slide as copper and nickel cool off

Base metals also gave away part of their recent gains with copper and nickel easing to US$3.08/lb and US$7.51/lb respectively. Zinc held steady at US$1/lb.

All major mining stocks were in decline today. Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) sank to the bottom of the pile with a 2.3% loss, while Xstrata (LSE: XTA) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) followed with declines of about 2%.

Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) lost 1%, while Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) declined marginally.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) moved with the market, sliding 2%.

South American focused junior miner Herencia Resources (AIM: HER) and Russia focused copper and nickel miner Amur Minerals (AIM: AMC) were among the leading performers in the sector with gains of 5%. South Africa operating chrome miner Chromex Mining (AIM: CHX) also advanced, gaining 3%.

Tunisia focused metal miner Maghreb Minerals (AIM: MMS) and Australia focused coking coal producer Caledon Resources (AIM: CDN) were in decline, sliding 5% and 4.5% respectively, while copper and nickel explorer Regency Mines (AIM: RGM) lost 3.5%.

Banks, insurance, private equity

Banking stocks were mixed this morning.

Part-nationalised Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) were flat, while Barclays (SLE: BARC), HSBC (LSE: HSBA) and Standard Chartered (SLE: STAN) retreated 2.3%, 2% and 1.8% respectively.

Insurers also headed in different directions. RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was the top performer in the sector with a gain of almost 1%. Standard Life (LSE: SL), Prudential (SLE: PRU), Aviva (LSE: AV) and car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) were flat, while Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) and Old Mutual (LSE: OML) lost about 2%.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) gained 1.2%.

Small Cap Movers

Other notable movers among the small caps included environmental science and technology company Accsys Technologies (AIM: AXS), which slipped 10% after reporting declines in first half revenues, while posting a €8 million pre-tax loss after making a profit of €0.2 million a year ago. African Diamonds (AIM: AFD) also retreated, shedding 7%. Machine to machine (M2M0 communications specialist Telit Communications (AIM: TCM) did better with a gain of nearly 8%.

Large and Mid Cap News

In an interim management statement, Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) said that it’s upcoming ‘high-impact multi-well’ drilling programmes in Kurdistan and Uganda represents its ‘busiest period ever’.  During the period, at the company’s only producing asset in Russia, production increased by 83% from the first half, to an average of 422 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Galway Resources Ltd (TSX-V: GWY) said Prodeco, the Colombian subsidiary of Xstrata PLC (LSE: XTA), has begun drilling the first of 19 holes in the initial drill program at Galway's GALCA coal project.

Turkmenistan operating oil company and FTSE 250 constituent Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) has announced today that the Emirates National Oil Company Limited LLC (ENOC) has confirmed that the offer price of 455 pence per share for the company is final and will not be increased.

In an interim statement, Barratt Developments Plc (LSE: BDEV) said that the stability in the UK housing market continued into the current trading period, as a result Barratt is achieving its reservation rate target and prices are ahead of budget. Although trading conditions are improved, Barratt CEO Mark Clare said the UK housing market will remain constrained until availability of mortgage finance increases.

In its first half report to 30 September 2009, UK headquartered interdealer broker ICAP plc (IAP.L) declared a ‘resilient performance’ with a 6% increase in Group revenues leading to a 2% increase earnings per share (EPS). The group also announced a 9% increase to the dividend to 5.11 pence per share. A number of analysts upgraded the interdealer broker following the update.

Blackthorn Resources (ASX: BTR) has provided a breakdown of results from the recent Inferred Mineral Resource estimate completed on the Kitumba Anomaly from the Mumbwa JV project in Zambia. Blackthorn currently holds a 60% vested interest in the Mumbwa Iron Oxide Copper-Gold Project, which is being explored with joint venture partner BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) (40%) for IOCG style mineralisation by targeting anomalies identified from previous airborne FALCON™ geophysical surveys.

Cable and Wireless Plc (LSE: CW.) have revealed the details behind its demerger plans, through a new convertible debt issue and on-going bank negotiations the telecommunication group expects the two independent companies to have ‘sufficient’ financing for three years.

Small Cap News

Shares in Aurelian Oil & Gas (AIM: AUL) rallied 20% this morning after the Eastern Europe focused junior announced its largest discovery to date at the Brodina block in Romania with expected gas in place between 50 and 100 bcf (billion cubic feet) in the shallower sections of the Voitinel-1 well in Romania, which previously hit a dry target.

Earlier today shares in Minerva plc (AIM: MNR) surged after the announcement of a cash offer at fifty pence per share from South African Investor and major shareholder Nathan Kirsh. However following a meeting of the company’s board, Minerva Plc has ‘rejected the unsolicited proposal’. Shares in the Minerva are currently up 33% and were last trading one penny above the proposed offer price.

Healthcare workforce optimisation solutions provider Allocate Software (AIM: ALL) has announced a strategic partnership with special strategic health authority NHS professionals (NHSP) to deliver long-term integrated services to NHS Trusts.

Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) has issued 20 million shares to Suphansa Holdings in exchange for 3 million shares in Swiss uranium miner Uranio AG (FWB: UAI), representing 1.33% of its issued share capital.

Accsys Technologies PLC (AIM: AXS), hard-hit by the economic downturn, reported a drop in revenues for the first half and swung to a pretax loss, but said it is seeing increasing demand for its proprietary Accoya wood and that it is confident that the continued expansion of its global distributor network will pay off

Kalahari Minerals PLC (AIM: KAH) has noted a statement issued by Extract Resources Ltd (TSX, ASX: EXT), in which the Australian group invited interested parties to submit proposals for their potential partnership in the development of the Rossing South uranium deposit at the Husab project in Namibia.

IP commercialisation company Amphion Innovations (AIM: AMP) investment strategy received positive feedback from research house Equity Development, which issued a report on the company, projecting it to post its first ever operating profit in the second half of the year if the current cost control policy continues and some of its portfolio businesses can keep up their strong performance.

Kryso Resources (KYS), the AIM listed gold and base metals exploration and development company with interests in Tajikistan, announced yet another significant uplift in the size of the total JORC compliant resource at the Pakrut Gold Project this morning.

Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) has reported successful results from a test of the Objective Devonian F2 formation, where the INE-2 well demonstrated a commercial flow rate.

Leni Gas & Oil PLC (AIM: LGO) said it is launching a winter campaign to re-instate gas handling facilities at the Ayoluengo oilfield in Spain to handle a major increase in gas production that impacted liquids production, and it is near completion of major well interventions and gas export maintenance in the Gulf of Mexico.

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