The market is down 3. The SFE Futures were down 13 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 9 overnight in another quiet session. The Northen hemisphere is in holiday season. The S&P 500 has fallen 10% from its high on April 23. European stocks fell for the first time in five days. Metals were mostly down on the LME, the Oil price down 35c to $75.42, Gold put on $3.10 to $1231.40. The $A fell slightly to 89.87c from 90.52c.

Busy day on the results front…

  • QBE Insurance (QBE) up 2.8% to 1740c — Profit fell 39% to $440m in the 1st H but ahead of expectations. They had a profits warning on July 23rd so the result was well flagged.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) — down 50c to 3130c — reported a 2.8% rise in net profit to $1.565bn in the year to June 30, up from $1.522bn but slightly below analysts’ expectations of $1.63bn.
  • Adelaide Brighton (ABC) — up 8c to 339c – H1 net profit up 57% to $68.8m — above its July guidance of $62m to $65m. Revenue was $519.4m up 12% from the previous 6 months. ABC also gave strong guidance for FY11.
  • ASX Ltd (ASX) — down 24c to 2976c — FY profit rose 4.6% but was slightly below analysts estimates. It recorded revenue gains across all its activities except information services.
  • AMP Ltd (AMP) first half underlying profit of $383m compared to some broker expectations for a number more like $415m. They also talked about a challenging outlook that depended on markets. AMP down 22c to 510c.
  • Healthscope (HSP) — FY net profit rose 37% to $99.3m, up from $72.3m and slightly above analysts of $98.5m. HSP is currently under a takeover offer and is up 6c to 610c.
  • Brambles (BXB) — up 5.28% to 558c — FY net profit fell 1% to US$448.8m from US$452.6m a year earlier despite sales being slightly higher. This was below analysts forecasts of $434.5m but the CEO said they are well placed to grow in 2010/11.
  • Downer EDI (DOW) net profit fell 98.4% to $2.96m from $189.38m the previous year. Underlying profit was $197.3m while guidance was $194m and the consensus expected $191.7m. Patersons maintain their HOLD recommendation. DOW down 2.9% to 459c.
  • Goodman Fielder (GFF) full year net profit of $161.1m, down 8.3% from $175.7million a year ago. It had one-time costs of $22.4m and excluding these charges, net profit rose 11.2% to $183.5m. GFF up 1c to 126c.
  • PaperlinX (PPX) reported a net loss of $225.3m. This includes tax significant items mostly relating to Tasmania of $170.3m. Revenue was $5.2bn, down 27% on the prior year. PPX will pay no final dividend. PPX down 2c to 64c.

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