News Corp drags Australian stock market lower in early trading July 18 2011

Indonesia stock info -News Corp drags Australian stock market lower in early trading July 18 2011 - Australian stock market july 18 2011 : AUSTRALIAN stocks have opened lower, despite a positive finish on Wall Street, as weakness in the energy and consumer discretionary sector, particularly another big decline in News Corporation, offset gains among telecoms and gold stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 7.2 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 4466.3, while the broader All Ordinaries had fallen 6.8 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 4535.9.

News Corporation voting shares were down 4.54 per cent, or 67 cents, at $14.10 after UK authorities made further arrests over the phone hacking scandal.

Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, News Corp's UK arm that published the now defunct News of the World, resigned on Friday and was arrested over the weekend.

The company was the worst-performing stock on the S&P/ASX 50.

News Corp non-voting stock had fallen 56c, or 3.91 per cent, to $13.76.

Other media companies in the red included Seven West Media, down 8c at $3.86, and Seven Group Holdings, which was off 12c at $9.12.

en was down a quarter of a cent at $1.0525, but Fairfax was steady at 92c.

Bell Potter senior adviser Stuart Smith said it was a quiet start on the local bourse amid a less-than-confident mood among investors.

He said the prospect of a US default would be on the minds of market players in the week ahead, as legislators tried to negotiate the lifting of the US debt ceiling.

"There's a big lump of debt involved. There's a possible downgrade by the ratings agencies, so really they have got to bang their heads together and do something," Mr Smith said.

The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US1595.90 per ounce, up $US14.70 from Friday's local close of $US1581.20. National turnover was 360.3 million securities worth $526.6 million. Some 328 stocks were trading higher, while 322 were lower and 274


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