Tripoli, February 28: The share market opened flat today as investor worries about Libya’s turmoil outweighed positive US leads from Friday.
At 10.15am (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 1.7 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 4834.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 1.8 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 4926.7.
On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was four points up at 4823 with 8528 contracts traded.
US shares rose on Friday as oil prices stabilised following a recent jump. The escalating turmoil in Libya still left major indices down about two per cent for the week.
Oil prices settled at $US97.88, down from a high of $US103 on Thursday but still up 13 per cent over the last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.95, or 0.5 per cent, to close at 12,130.45. It was the first rise for the Dow after three days of losses.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.78, or 1.1 per cent, to 1319.88. The Nasdaq composite rose 43.15, or 1.6 per cent, to 2781.05.
IG Markets strategist Ben Potter said the Australian market had opened weaker than expected.
“It looks like the financials seem to be taking a few points out of the market, which is a little bit surprising after pretty good leads from the US with financials up 1.4 per cent,” he said.
“All eyes are still on what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa … we could see either a big fall in safe havens with the gold and oil price later on in the day.
“If all hell breaks loose it could go in the other direction.”
Locally, the big mining shares opened higher.
BHP Billiton was up 13c at $46.08 and Rio Tinto lifted 67c to $84.60.
Fortescue, who announced late on Friday that it had discovered one billion tonnes of high grade iron ore near its Cloudbreak deposit, had climbed 21c, or 3.23 per cent, to $6.71.
In energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum had improved 17c at $42.09, Santos increased nine cents at $14.10 and Oil Search advanced 7c at $6.94.
Engineering firm Downer EDI has reported a first half net loss of $103.81 million, as it seeks $279 million in new capital to help deal with the impact of the troubled Waratah train project.
Downer shares entered a trading halt today but last traded at $3.92.
In banking, NAB was down 12c at $25.88, Westpac was off 7c at $23.66, Commonwealth Bank had lost 13c to $52.96 and ANZ was 4c lower at $24.27.
QBE Insurance Group Ltd has posted a 17 per cent drop in full year net profit but expects a higher insurance profit margin in 2011.
Its shares were down 29c at $18.11.
National turnover at 10.45am was 977.2 million shares worth $900.4 million, with 512 shares up, 368 down and 340 steady.
——–Agencies