Australian market slightly easier

Press, 7 August 1982, Page 18

Australian market slightly easier

The Australian sharemarket closed lower yesterday, but trading was light.

The all-ordinaries index lost 1.5 points to 467.8, with the all-industrials index 1.4 points off at 619.9, and the all-resources index 1.6 points lower at 344.4. Stockbrokers said that they had expected a 4-5 point drop in view of the weaker performance of Wall Street on renewed concern about U.S. interest rates.

Bridge Oil was again in the spotlight, with 780,000 rights traded including a parcel of 675.000 which brokers believed was one of the few overseas share parcels to enter the market.

Bridge shares held steady at 255 c while the rights rose one cent to 156 c. Brokers believe that most BHP shares sold in Sydney were also from the same overseas source, with the Melbourne broker, A. C. Goode, offering the stock. BHP closed at 674 c, a fall of 10c.

Leading miners moved narrowly, with CRA ending unchanged at 315 c while MIM slipped 3c to 285 c, WMC fell, a cent to 305 c and Bougainville was 2c better at 130 c. Gold stocks eased with the $5 drop in the New York spot

price. Central Norseman dropped 20c to 475 c, Peko was 10c off at 435 c, and Poseidon 5c lower at 200 c. Pancontinental Mining jumped 18c to 135 c on news that its Paddington gold prospect near Kalgoorlie contained a large, low-grade gold deposit which could be open-cut mined. On the industrial boards, CSR fell 6c to 272 c. The banking sector weakened with ANZ down 4c at 350 c. Myer added 2c to 134 c in the steady retail section. Transport stocks firmed while the building materials

index weakened in part because of Pioneer Concrete falling 5c to 128 c. BMI was 5c up at 150 c, Bora! added 3c to 238 c, and James Hardie was steady at 295 c. Sales of Warburton O'Donnell persisted at 385 c, 5c above both the cash and share-cash alternatives offered by Comeng under the merger agreement between the two companies. Elders lost 5c to 275 c as did Bundaberg at 210 c. Caltex added 3c to 141 c with 2c rises by Hooker to 90c, and Dunlop" to 102 c.