Construction work falls 2.4% in September quarter, Shares fall: Economy Roundup

The value of total building work done in the September quarter fell by a seasonally adjusted 2.4% to $21.8 billion, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The rise follows a decline of 6.6% in the June quarter, the figures show.

The ABS says the seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of all new residential building work fell by 6.3% to $9.9 billion, with work on new houses falling 9% to $6.5 billion, with new other residential building dropping 0.5% to $3.3 billion.

The performance in non-residential building work was much more positive, with the value of all work completed rose by 1.4%.

Telstra names new chief operations officer

Telco giant Telstra has announced that Brendon Riley, a senior executive at IBM, will replace Michael Rocca as chief operations officer who is leaving the company after 43 years.

The telco also announced it has appointed former St George managing director Paul Fegan as the company’s managing director of a completely new strategy and corporate services unit.

“These appointments are an investment in the next generation of company leaders,” chief executive David Thodey said in a statement.

“Brendon and Paul will lead functions that are fundamental to the company’s future success. Their appointments will add breadth, depth and diversity of experience to our leadership team.”

The new unit is designed to combine the public policy, communications, corporate strategy, and mergers and acquisitions departments.

The construction of the new unit is part of the company’s Project New plan designed to revitalise and streamline many of the telco’s internal processes.

Shares lower on Wall Street weakness

The Australian sharemarket has opened lower following a disappointing result form Wall Street overnight.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 27 points or 0.56% to 4807.4 at 12.20 AEST, while the Australian dollar maintained its position at $US99c.

AMP shares lost 0.6% to $5.06, while Commonwealth Bank shares gained 0.2% to $51.87. ANZ lost 0.6% to $23.09 as Westpac fell 0.7% to $22.45.

OZ Minerals beats production targets

OZ Minerals has announced it expects to produce 110,000 tonnes of copper and up to 205,000 ounces of gold from the Prominent Hill mine during 2011, which would beat 2010 production targets.

The company said in a statement that during the December quarter, the mine produced 25,185 tonnes of copper, and that gold production reached a record high of 54,128 ounces.

“Cash costs of US43.5 cents per pound for the quarter and US46.4 cents for the year place Prominent Hill in the first quartile of global producers,” the company said in a statement.

“In 2011, ore milled output is planned to increase to 9.6 Mtpa, which, with lower grades of copper ore mined and recoveries at current levels, will see production of between 100,000 tonnes and 110,000 tonnes of copper maintained.”

Fuel industry has issues with competition law

As reported by the Australian Financial Review, both Caltex and the Australian Institute of Petroleum have said there are problems with proposed changes to competition law that are designed to stop price-signalling.

In submissions delivered to treasury the two entities argue that if the changes go ahead, it could cost consumers up to $40 million per year in higher fuel prices.

Sydney Airport earnings up 12%

Sydney Airport has reported EBITDA was $773.3 million during the 2010 calendar year, up from $690.2 million in 2009.

Chief executive Russell Balding has said in a statement that the strong passenger growth, particularly for arrivals from China, have delivered the airport a solid result.

“The number of Chinese arrivals into Sydney has nearly doubled from 147,148 in 2004 to 282,641 in 2010,” he said. “The 2010 figures on flights to China, including both Australian outbound and Chinese inbound, show exceptional growth at 26.2% over 2009.”

Health care reform repealed

The United States’ House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted to repeal president Obama’s health care reform that was passed last year.

Although Democrats say they will block the repeal bill in the Senate, the move is the first piece of evidence the Republicans intend to bring a major package of legislative reform in their tenure.

On Wall Street, stocks remained weak due to poor results from both Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.6 points or 0.11% to 11,825.29.