World Bank: global economy is in 'a new danger zone'

France, Spain, Italy and Belgium all announced short-selling bans intended to calm volatility.

The market is up 80. The SFE Futures were up 41 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 125 on Friday and ended the week down 1.5% with moves during the week of -635, +430, -519, +423, and +125. France, Spain, Italy and Belgium all announced short-selling bans intended to calm volatility. The World Bank said the global economy is in “a new danger zone”. On the economic front, consumer sentiment came in well below expectations – it is now at its worst level in over 30 years. The oil price was down 34c to $85.38 and gold fell $8.90 to $1741. The A$ is buying 104.20c up from 103.09c on Friday.

In the news today…

Newcrest Mining (NCM) full year profit increased 63% to $908m and revenue increased 46%. Underlying profit (excluding one-off and accounting items) came in at $1.06bn, slightly better than the $1.05bn analysts expected. They declared a final dividend of 20c a share and a special dividend of 20c, analysts were expecting a 24c final dividend. NCM down 1.8% to 3999c.
Ansell (ANN) reported that full year profit was up 2.8% to $122.7m – consensus was for $US119m. They declared a final dividend of 19c a share and an on-market buyback of up to 5 million shares. They forecast EPS to rise as much as 12% this financial year. ANN up 5%.
UGL Ltd (UGL) full year profit rose 9.7% to $158.51 and they predicted that 2012 would be a positive growth year. They declared a final dividend of 38c. The result was slightly below estimates. UGL down 2.7%.
Leighton Holdings (LEI) has reported a full year loss of $408.8m, down from a $612m profit a year earlier, mainly due to losses and reversals on the Airport Link project in Queensland and the desalination project in Victoria. The result was in line with earlier guidance. They reiterated their FY12 net profit guidance of $600m – $650m. LEI up 6.8% to 2119c.
Imdex (IMD) reported a full year profit of $29m after the previous year’s $21.5m loss and said the outlook for financial 2012 was positive. IMD up 9.9% to 216c.
ThinkSmart (TSM) first half profit rose 5% to $2.88m after recording a strong performance in the UK where revenue was up 26%. The result exceeded consensus estimates. TSM down 5.1%.
UBS says Macquarie Group (MQG) is distributing capital back to shareholders the wrong way. MQG expect to pay an 8% unfranked dividend yield, but they argue that this brings into question their capital management strategy. MQG up 73c to 2431c.
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) goes ex-dividend (188c) today. CBA down 148c to 4708c.

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