Australian Markets

Telstra fell to record lows during this week, hitting $3.66 - just 26 cents above that T1 investors paid in 1997 and about half of what investors paid for T2. And you think the Aussie Government is going to offload this ailing stock to T3 in during the coming year? Who knows? But there is one thing I know - it is highly unlikely for this stock to see some miracle recovery over the next year.

The ASX All Ordinaries has broken a support line at around 4820, this movement could prove to be a weak correction, especially if the secondary support at 4730 holds. Shares could open flat to start the week off on Monday but may end up in higher territory due to a recent jump in oil prices and gold on Friday night. On the flip side, the Aussie markets may be a little cautious due to the Presidents' day Holiday. This week is the arguably biggest week for the ASX market with over 70 major companies posting earnings as part of our local "Profit Reporting Season".

Like all booms - they all must come to an end. And the Australian Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has warned that the boom will not last. "This won't last forever; it never does," Mr Costello told ABC radio. Australia's economy has recently been riding on high worldwide oil, mineral and commodity prices.

Computershare the share registry operator is looking to reap revenues to hit at least $1.5 billion for 2005/06 period given the condition that key markets such as the United States remain healthy. However it isn't all good news: Computershare announced a 5 per cent fall today in first-half net profit to $65.78 million. But looking ahead, Computershare reaffirmed its 2005/06 earnings guidance and said it expected earnings per share (EPS) of at least 29¢ per share. For 2004/05 Computershare posted revenues of $1.10 billion with an EPS (earnings per share) at 24.27¢. CEO Chris Morris said that he "can now proudly say that Computershare has become a leading player in the North American market, evidenced by the US contribution to the result this half."

Telstra [TLS] shares fell on the news that the telecommunications carrier's latest earnings have fallen by 10 per cent for the first half of the 2005/2006 business year. There may be a positive sweetner to the deal with a promise to maintain an annual dividend payout at 28 cents per share until the 2008 financial year. Telstra reported a $2.14 billion net profit for the six months to December 31, down 10.3 per cent from $2.39 billion in the previous corresponding period. Sol Trujillo the Chief executive of Telstra said customers had continued to ditch its fixed line calling products in favour of internet and mobile products.

It truly is a buyers market out there with house prices falling in Sydney. Competitive house prices and a steady interest rate have probably spurred this new spending with official statistics release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday on Friday revealed that the proportion of loans going to first home buyers was 18.7 per cent in December, up from 18.3 per cent in November and the highest level since May 2002.

Here is a basic rundown of the ASX February 2006 Dividend Schedule. Further Dividend information can be found by going to www.asx.com.au searching for your stock quote and looking up their dividend.

APR Fund (APR) ex-dividend date 06 Feb 2006 with pay date 16 Feb 2006 is paying 1.33 cents with 0% franking.

Advent (ADT) ex-dividend date 06 Feb 2006 with pay date 20 Feb 2006 is paying 39.79 100% franking.

Fiducian (FPS) ex-dividend date 09 Feb 2006 with pay date 22 Feb 2006 is paying 2.80 cents with 100% franking.

"Shares in Zinifex (ZFX) have plunged by over 10% in morning trading after the zinc miner disclosed that the mine plan for Century is under review and that cost increases are inevitable. The following note provides a brief overview of Macquarie Research Equities’ (MRE) initial thoughts on the announcement."

Had a look at the chart... Such a nice graph... At July 2005 it was $3 and was fetching $8.22 yesterday before the drop.

"The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the total value of finance for houses dropped to $18.3 billion during the month."

For traders the ramifications In my opinion are minor - but it's nice to know. The economy doesn't rely on one indicator to tell us at what level it is. But in an economic sense it could be seen as a slowing down of the property market, and nothing more - perhaps a knock on effect that people are buying less houses could mean they are hesitant to or there's enough houses in the market... who knows? One can only speculate.

Merchant House International (MHI) which runs factories in Hong Kong and China, goes ex-div for one-cent unfranked interim dividend this Friday (20th), payable on 31 January.