Australian stocks: market edges higher in "uninspiring" trade

The Australian stock market managed to edge slightly higher at close today after an uninspiring day of trading with few clear trends.

At the 1615 AEDT close the S&P/ASX200 had crept up 5.4 points to 4903.9 while the all ordinaries had firmed 5.3 points to 4867.4.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract was up 10 points to 4905 on volume of 11,839.

Intersuisse equities manager Andrew Sekely said it had been an "uninspiring" day of trading with the market opening weaker, slowly winning back ground over the day and then just getting its nose into positive territory at the close.

"The only trend that has been noticeable is that there is just no trend at all," he said.

A weak lead from the US set the scene for the lacklustre local market, with stocks on Wall Street easing on Friday after computer maker Intel Corp warned of a quarterly revenue shortfall.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.92 points to 11,021.59 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 1.91 points to 1,287.23.

Tech stocks also lost ground, with the Nasdaq Composite Index dipping 8.51 points to 2,302.60.

Mr Sekely said the big four banking stocks illustrated the lack of direction in the market with two making solid gains while two lost ground.

National Australia Bank marched up 32 cents to A$36.82 and ANZ advanced 17 cents to A$25.69 but the Commonwealth Bank fell 30 cents to A$43.70 and Westpac was down 14 cents at A$23.05.

The big miners got off to a slow start on the back of mixed base metals prices from overseas trading but BHP Billiton ended the day up 17 cents at A$24.51 and Rio Tinto closed 50 cents higher at A$70.85.

In the media sector, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp climbed 32 cents to A$23.58 and the company's non-voting stock was up 24 cents at A$22.22.

Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd shot up 40 cents to A$17.47 on news of its acquisition of a $US900 million ($A1.21 billion) subconcession to own and operate hotel casino resorts in Macau.

PBL is also set to evenly share the economic value and benefit of Asian projects with joint venture partner Melco International Development Ltd.

Newspaper group Fairfax fell four cents to A$3.90 after announcing a drop in first half earnings and the $NZ700 million ($625 million) purchase of a New Zealand online auction website.

Transport firm Toll Holdings shot up 43 cents to A$12.15 after it announced it had taken up a controlling stake in Singapore's SembCorp Logistics.

Grocery wholesaler Metcash went the other way, tumbling 21 cents to A$4.59 after saying it expected to sell many of its recently-acquired Foodland supermarkets by October.

Coles Myer firmed one cent to A$9.94 as its board began considering bids received for its Myer department store chain.

The other big supermarket operator, Woolworths, advanced eight cents to A$18.85.

Troubled retirement operator Village Life fell one cent to 15 cents after posting a first half net loss of A$13.42 million.

Virgin Blue was up one cent to A$1.70 after part owner Sir Richard Branson said it was likely the budget airline would compete with Qantas on the Sydney to Los Angeles route.

Qantas ended the day up five cents at A$4.00.

Telstra moved up two cents to A$3.88 while Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications was unchanged at A$2.20.

At 1650 AEDT the spot price of gold was A$US566.80 per fine ounce, down A$US2.65 on Friday's close.

Gold stocks were mixed with Australia's biggest gold producer Newcrest Mining unchanged on A$21.75, global gold giant Newmont Mining down 12 cents to A$7.23 and Papua New Guinea miner Lihir Gold up eight cents at A$2.34.

The top traded stock by volume was Sundance Resources with 87.2 million shares worth A$5.92 million changing hands.

Shares in the junior explorer rose 1.8 cents or 34.6 percent to seven cents.

Preliminary market turnover was 1.17 billion shares worth A$2.99 billion with 527 stocks up, 553 down and 301 unchanged.

- AAP