MSCI selling pressure ends Friday In SYDNEY today, Australian...

MSCI selling pressure ends Friday In SYDNEY today, Australian stocks will likely see a quiet session with activity impacted by the closure of key US markets overnight. Gold stocks will again be a focus following recent strength in the price of the precious metal and corporate activity in the sector.
On Monday, the local benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 5.5 points weaker at 3381.6 while the all ordinaries finished 3.3
points lower at 3335.0.
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Today in Sydney, Reserve Bank of Australia-Treasury economic conference papers are due for release. Also there are a host of annual meetings for companies including Reinsurance Australia Corp, Petsec Energy Ltd, Open Telecommunications Ltd, SPC Ltd and Straits Resources Ltd.
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At 0734 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was six points higher at 3372 on a volume of 325 contracts.
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Source : IRESS 28 May, 2002
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In LONDON, gold remained above the key $320 an ounce support level on ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in thin late trade with
US and many Far Eastern markets closed for public holidays, dealers said. "Trading last week saw continued safe haven investor interest as political tensions heightened in the Indian sub-continent and problems persisted in the Middle East," Rhona O'Connell at the World Gold Council said.
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However, Kevin Norrish at Barclays Capital said gold prices were being driven higher by speculative buying on the back of activity
in the gold corporate sector. The bid for Australian AurionGold by Placer Dome has been a key driver for gold price strength, he said. "Given that this corporate activity still has some way to run it looks likely that gold price risks will continue to point higher," he said.
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Source : IRESS 28 May, 2002
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Gold Plays:
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LHGWPE Aug $1.50 Call
NCMWPC Jul $6.00 Call
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After the recent global downturn in the travel and tourism industries, Qantas has taken it upon themselves to make things happen. With many new additional routes and a strong push in the Qantas owned Australian Airlines division, management is taking a bullish view on the recovery of the whole sector.
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Some market analyst's expect that the launch of the Australian Airlines division in October could add as much as 60c to the share price when operating at its maximum potential.
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Despite the share price being off 6% in the last 10 trading days, investors should not be too concerned as much of this comes down to profit taking.
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QANWPI JUN $4.75 CALL
QANIPD DEC $3.25 INSTALMENT
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Something to be mindful of is the looming Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI) deadline on the 31st. May. This is the deadline for fund managers to readjust their weightings. This second tranche of changeover is not expected to have much impact on the markets although we may see some short term gyrations in the coming week which should provide day traders with plenty of opportunities. One major broking house believes there is roughly $1.4 billion of index buying to be done in Australia compared with $600 million worth of selling. Stocks that should benefit include ANZ, Westfield Holdings, Macquarie Bank, Woodside, Macquarie Infrastructure and Fairfax. Those affected by index selling are Telstra, News Corp, Coca-Cola, Tabcorp and Leighton Holdings.
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For the Bulls:
ANZWPL July $18.50 Call
ANZIPD Dec '02 $13.50 Instalment
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WSFIPF June '03 $10 Instalment
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MBLWPC Aug $33.50 Call
MBLIPF June '03 $20 Instalment
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WPLWPF July $15 Call
WPLIPD dec '02 $11.73 Instalment
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MIGIPF June '03 $2.50 Instalment
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FXJWPF June $3.75 Call
FXJIPD Dec '02 $3.50 Instalment
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For the Bears :
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TLSWPW July $4.50 Put
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NCPWPY July $12 Put
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