Australian Internet and technology
counters fell Wednesday morning as investors mimicked
the profit taking seen in the US Tuesday. Tuesday saw
the Nasdaq’s biggest fall in 2 months, dropping over
4% or 200.61 points to 4,706.63.
Basking in the glow of its deal with the Seven Network, ISP
and aspiring Multimedia Service Provider Access1 was one
of the few Internet companies up Wednesday morning. At
midday Access1 was up 2% at Aus $1.47.
Australian Internet heavyweights Looksmart
(LOK), Ecorp
(ECP) and Libertyone
(LIB) fell 6.5%, 6.1% and 5.7% respectively in the US
inspired Internet sell down. Expect a turnaround on
Libertyone in the afternoon as news of its investment
in Chinese trade portal China Products
Ltd. hits the market.
Online wine retailer, Wine Planet
(WIN), rose 7.6% to 42.5 cents Wednesday morning,
bucking the down turn. No deals or news appear to be
in the works despite some heavy volumes went through.
Wine Planet management said they thought investors are
now reassessing the significance of their recent deal
with Fosters Brewing Group (FBG). Wine Planet
announced first half results just after midday.
IT services firm I.T.&e Ltd. (ITE),
dropped back to below its week open after a run up in
the stock Tuesday. I.T.&e announced its first half
results Wednesday morning, it missed the earnings
forecast stated in its prospectus and fell 6.6% to
$1.28 at midday.
Internet advertising company BMC Media (BMC)
fell 2.17% to $6.75 at midday. BMC beat its prospectus
forecasts for gross billings but was caught up in
Wednesday morning’s sell off. Recently listed Internet
media buying company, Emitch (EMI) also
fell, losing 14.7% to $2.43.
Australian miners come net stocks were the big
winners Wednesday. Pilbara Mines (PIL) announced it
has raised $1.8 million through a share placement to
HIH Insurance (HIH). The capital raised will be
ploughed into aspiring broadband provider Request DSL.
Request recently signed a memorandum of understanding
with international networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO)
to use Cisco or its nominated partners to roll out
their Australian broadband network. Pilbara rose 1.3%
to $2.33 in the morning session.
Menzies Gold (MZG) made its foray into the hot than
hot business to business e-commerce sector Wednesday,
taking a 20%, $2.5 million stake in Market Boomer Ltd.
Market Boomer will list on the , Australian Stock
Exchange in short order according to today’s
announcement. Menzies jumped 57.9% to 30 cents after
announcing the Market Boomer investment.