Smoky signals from the US overnight resulted in investor uncertainty as the ASX opened for morning trade. Most seemed to be hanging back, unsure of what move to make -- as a result the Triple-I Index saw thin trading and little movement as the morning dragged on.
Cable & Wireless Optus (CWO) -- the leader by volume in yesterday's trading -- furthered its decline into negative territory following unhappy investor sentiment of its earnings news. CWO market value was down a further 3.7 percent to AU$3.88.
Telstra (TLS) saw a slight reprieve in its dwindling market share -- a further indication of investor indecisiveness as to which way the market would swing. Telstra shares were trading up 0.3 percent to AU$6.63 and its instalment receipts were up 0.5 percent to AU$3.65.
Online broker Etrade (ETR) declined 1.3 percent to AU$2.22 on the back of the slump in equities trading which investors fear may put a dent in its revenues.
Realestate.com (REA) saw a heavy drop in its share price this morning despite speculation that leading US online real estate company Homestore.com is showing some interest in the Aussie dot.com. Realestate was down by 10.4 percent to 30 cents.
Investors were uninterested in Bourse Data's (BDA) news that it has increased its relevant interest in Hotcopper Australia Limited from 36,445,081 ordinary shares to 36,648,255 ordinary shares. Share value was showing no change from yesterday's AU$1.45.
ERG (ERG) shares continue to stand out in the crowd and its strength in the sharemarket continued today reaching an intra-morning high of AU$9.90 -- up 3.4 percent. ERG has recently either won or renewed long-term automated fare collection maintenance agreements with east-coast transport providers.
Reckon's (RKN) Chairman's address to shareholders failed to rally the troops yesterday and its share value was down 3.8 percent to 77 cents. The address referred to the "rollercoaster ride" Reckon has been on during the sharemarket's recent slide.
At midday the Triple-I Index was down 11.1 points to a value of 648.3.
