AUSTRALIA Firm in thin trading

Press, 23 June 1986, Page 28

AUSTRALIA Firm in thin trading

PA Sydney Australian sharemarkets traded thinly but finished the week 3.8 points firmer after renewed institutional buying and positive signals from abroad which helped recover some of the ground lost the previous week and earlier last week. The all-ordinaries index closed 3.7 points firmer on 1214.5, the all-industri-als rose 11.6 to 1940.7, but the all-resources eased 2.2 points to 664.3, and the gold index 5.5 to 928.0.

BHP finished 4c down at 880 and 6c off the previous Friday’s close, after making a brief rally.

Elders IXL firmed 13c to 475, but still down 5c on the week.

Bell Group eased 10c to 940 and Beil Resources remained unchanged on 430. Adsteam was also unchanged on the week, on $12.60. Equiticorp Tasman shed 2c to 168 but improved 3c on the previous Friday. Industrial stocks were mainly responsible for the modest recovery of the markets during the week, with finance and other quality stocks in demand.

FAI firmed 14 to 820, newly listed Westfield Capital 5c to 150 while Hooker and Lend Lease climbed 12 and 10 respectively to 277 and 920. Bond Corp was up 9c to 335, Boral 6c to 468, Amcor 10 to 340, and Amatil 20 to 800, a 26c rise from the previous week’s close. Banks were firmer, with Westpac putting on 5c to 490, and the ANZ and National Australia 2c each to 512 and 580. Miners were generally

weaker, with CRA down 6c to 660, 20 off on the week with gold miners also weaker after the previous week’s strong gains. Barrack climbed 20 to 500 and Central Norseman was up 10 to 790. Among media stocks News Corp recovered to finish the day 60 up at $21.20 after reaching a low of $lB.OO during the week. The Herald and Weekly Times jumped 30 to 640, but Fairfax went against the trend, losing 6c to 614.