澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-10-30

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Australian shares have been hit by a steady stream of profit-taking as investors¹ gear up for a raft of local and international economic data due out next week. Both the All Ordinaries Index and the ASX200 have closed down about 0.5%. Shares in Macquarie Group have surged almost five per cent after the investment bank revealed a better-than-expected first half net profit of $ 403 million. That's down 16 per cent on its profit for the same time last year, but it's still beaten market forecasts.

Mining stocks have been fairly mixed today. Shares in Whitehaven Coal have jumped almost nine per cent after it said it would formalize talks with potential bidders². But Rio Tinto has taken a little bit of hit, and Telstra has closed 1.5 per cent lower.

Turning now to commodities. That gold has eased and oil is fairly steady. And the Australian dollar is buying 97.6 US cents.

There's some good news for first-time buyers today with signs that housing affordability³ is improving. The property research group RP Data says home values rose just 0.1 per cent last month, seasonally⁴ adjusted. Homes in regional areas have fared even worse, falling almost one per cent. It's the fourth straight month that values have flatlined. Canberra was the best performing capital city in the whole September quarter, while values in Perth fell five per cent. Analysts⁵ say the price stagnation⁶ will help first-time buyers get a foothold in the property market.