Interview: Building materials stocks
It is approaching 13 past the hour in the city. the market open for 13 minutes and asx 200 up 22.3 points at 3929 and change. we did have the report earlier this morning regarding retail sales in the united states, an unexpected jump for the third straight month. u.s. retail sales, .1% gains aided by purchases of electronics and building materials, abating concerns that the christmas holiday season may be a depressed one. david tweed is in sydney this morning. how are the building materials stocks in that market reacting to that retail report?
>> australia has quite a lot of building materials companies that sell into the united states market. rinker gets about 80% of its sales in the u.s. market and its shares are reacting, up around about .3%. james hardie up nearly 1%, boral up .6%. boral makes home sidings in the u.s. bluescope steel up 1.4%. a gain of 2% for b.h.p. billiton. this is one of the world’s biggest copper producers. copper prices in new york up 2.2%. i might add, watch out for dana e.d.i. share, the big australian engineering company. a hong kong company, i.d.c. construction group, announced it will sell a stake of the e.d.i. shares. those shares halted at the moment and should start later today.
>> we’ll keep an eye on that one, too, paul-y i.d.c. one of the goals of the howard administration has been to lob off the rest of telstra on to the open market. is there any reaction in those shares this morning as the government invites banks to conduct a study into how to sell the stake.
>> just up around .4%. we wouldn’t expect a big reaction from telstra shares at this stage. what we do have is the government setting the stage for that share sale coming up towards the end of next year.
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fernando poe jr. dies after suffering a stroke. also coming up on this tuesday edition of the program, japanese bonds gain for the fourth straight section. heading into the government auction, we’ll speak with a strategist in tokyo whether he recommend into buying the offering ahead of the b.o.j. tankan report on business sentiment tomorrow. later, hong kong stocks come down from a four-year high earlier this month. we’ll speak with a brokerage manager for whether he’s advising clients to buy shares in the link reit, now embroiled in a legal battle. the other top stories this tuesday from cathy.
>> oracle wins the battle to take over peoplesoft. oracle’s chief executive larry ellison had to raise the offer to $26.50 to persuade peoplesoft to accept the bid. shares of both companies rose more than 10% on the deal. the deal puts oracle in the number two spot behind germany’s s.a.p. for software programs in business applications. the s&p rises to a three-year high on the oracle-peoplesoft news. investors were encouraged by a government report showing retail sales rose more than expected last month. economists we surveyed expected a drop. investor confidence on wall street is improving as more companies announce acquisitions. sprint and nextel shares gained after the “wall street journal” reported the two may finalize plans to merge wednesday in the u.s. the two parties agreed last friday to go ahead with the deal which analysts say is worth at least $thrive billion. $35 billion. we heard honeywell may bee novar in the u.k. signs consumers are spending more may boost speculation the federal reserve will continue to raise rates. the fed is expected to raise rates for the fifth time tomorrow. the dollar ended three days of gains fell back to 105 yen. investors sold dollars on speculation a report will show the u.s. current account deficit widening. economists we surveyed estimate the deficit grew to a record in the third quarter, $170 billion. the dollar’s down 4.5% against the euro and 1.6% versus the yen since president bush’s re-election on november 2. oil is higher by almost .5%, mainly because of weather forecasts for lower temperatures in the northeastern u.s. that region consumes about 80% of heating oil used by homeowners. the oil market is skeptical opec will stick to its production quota. the last time opec kept its promise was in january 2001. oil prices have fallen 27% from a record $55.67. those are the top stories this morning.
>> asian stocks rose in new york trading, as well. some of the gaining issues included consumer products makers like sony and hitachi. we saw u.s. retail sales unexpectedly up for the third straight month in november. the bank of new york indexes that monitor the asian stock action all rose there. japan a.d.r.’s up 1%. nikkei futures pointing to a start close to 10,900 judging by the chicago mercantile exchange futures contracts, ahead of the asian derivative markets. a report says that canon is expecting at least 10% profit growth next year. “nikkei english news” says the world’s biggest maker of copiers expects to earn as much as $3.5 billion in 2005, marking the sixth straight year of record profits at canon. reported that toyota will start production of the prius hybrid car in china next year. the largest carmaker will work with china and the government to build the hybrid vehicle. australian business confidence likely fell in the month of november, coming as steel costs climb and the rising value of the australian dollar cut into exports. the reserve bank kept interest rates unchanged after reports showed slowing growth in australia. the confidence survey conducted by national australian bank is due this morning. the trading launch of hong kong’s property trust may be delayed. a government lawyer blames the hold up on a legal challenge. the government’s right to conduct the i.p.o. in the city’s high court is challenged, disputing the sale that drew $76 billion in demand by investors. the high court will make a decision on whether to approve the initial review of the government plan. if there is no decision this afternoon, it will impact the time frame of the launch. we’ll be watching this. steve engle will have more on story shortly. the philippine actor and presidential challenger fernando poe jr. is dead at the age of 65. a spokesperson says he died after suffering a stroke on december 11. he was known as the king in philippine movies and was persuaded to challenge gloria macapagal-arroyo in the presidential election earlier this year. he accused the president of cheating. fernando poe jr. dead at 65. a chilean judge indicts augusto pinochet, taking part in a plot to capture opponents, a plan known as operation condor. condor was a coordinated drive by governments in argentina, paraguay, brazil and other countries to silence opposition leaders. pinochet took power in 1973 and ruled until 1990. the judge decided the 99-year-old former dictator is healthy enough to face trial. in the united states, president george w. bush has named his choice to head the u.s. department of health and human services. bush named michael leavitt to head the agency. levitt has been head of the e.p.a. if leavitt is confirmed, he’ll replace tommy thompson, who announced his resignation on december 3. department of health and human services accounts for 1/4 of all government spending. a california jury has decided scott peterson should be executed for killing his wife and underborn son. the decision came from the same jury that convicted peterson of murder last month. juries deliberated for the third day today. the judge will sentence peterson on february 25. saddam hussein is not likely to be tried before the beginning of 2006. it emerges, saddam was captured a year ago. a security adviser saying the trial is too important and the court must get right the first time. a.p. says charge against him include the gassing of thousands of kurds and the invasion of kuwait. u.s. retail sales unexpectedly up for a third month in november. we’ll speak with our market editor in sydney about asian stocks likely to move.
