Austar shares rise 7% on takeover talks: Midday Roundup

Austar shares have jumped over 7% this morning after it was confirmed talks with majority shareholder Liberty Global and Foxtel are ongoing, although it said no bid has been received yet.

The confirmation comes after several weeks of rumours regarding the discussions, with reports suggesting Foxtel is entering into talks to buy Liberty’s 54% stake in Austar.

There was a confirmation last month regarding the discussions, but at that time both said that no agreement had been reached – this was upheld in today’s announcement.

“Austar confirms that no such proposal has been received. Discussions between Austar, Liberty Global and Foxtel are ongoing, and exploratory in nature, and no assurance can be given that these discussions will lead to a formal proposal being put to Austar.”

Austar shares are currently trading at $1.30.

Wages edge up 0.8% during March quarter

The wage price index edged up 0.8% in the March quarter, taking the annual rise to 3.8%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says.

The result is lower than expected, with economists tipping a quarterly rise of 1.1% and an annual rise of 4%.

The announcement may provide the Reserve Bank to hold off on raising interest rates for another month when it meets next on June 7.

Westpac says the lower-than-expected result was mostly due to a moderation in public sector wage numbers, which rose 0.9% for the quarter.

” … if you exclude last September’s fair wage adjustment that boosted the quarterly rise to 1.2%, private sector wages are currently running close to 4% per annum,” the bank says.

This is broadly consistent with the state of the labour market and while not significantly inflationary in its own right, given the very low level of productivity in the Australia economy, it clearly is adding to, rather than subtracting from, domestic inflationary pressures.”

Shares flat after weak Wall Street leads

The Australian sharemarket has opened flat this morning following a weak night on Wall Street overnight.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index up 19 points or 0.4% to 4703.4 at 12.100 AEST, while the Australian dollar opened slightly higher to $US1.06.

NAB shares gained 0.63% to $27.08, as AMP shares rose 0.19% to $5.24. ANZ rose over 1.1% to $22.74 while Westpac rose 0.57% to $22.96.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 69 points or 0.55% to 12,479.58.

Job ads edge up in April

Internet job ads lifted 0.5% in April, according to national data, although the newspaper-based skilled vacancies index dropped 0.4%, taking the annual drop to more than 11%.

Professionals were most highly sought, with technicians and trades also high on the list.

The boom state of Western Australia recorded a 2.4% increase for April.

Xstrata to close Queensland smelting

Xstrata has announced it will close down its Mt Isa copper smelting operation in order to sustain the future growth of other parts of the business.

In a statement, the company said the operations in Mt Isa and Townsville will close by 2016, due to several factors including cheaper competition from China.

“The future for Xstrata’s north Queensland operations includes the expansion of existing mining operations and the potential development of new mines at Mount Isa and the broader region,” Xstrata said, according to AFP.

“This would also include the continuation of lead smelting and the expansion of port facilities in Townsville and create long-term employment opportunities.”

Strong Australian dollar now to say

Treasury head Martin Parkinson has said in a speech that the high Australian dollar is expected to stay high now for quite some time, and has also defended trade exposure to China.

“Volatility in China’s future growth path cannot be ruled out,” Parkinson said in his first major speech. “In the case of China, these are short-term risks around a positive long-term outlook for growth.”

“So this is going to affect Australia, whether we’re selling to China or if we’re not selling to China.”

Parkinson argues the amount of exports sent to China does not outstrip the amount sent to Japan.