The ASX opened lower this morning, shadowing a weaker close on US markets.
eisa (EIS), which fell over 20 percent on Tuesday following Fairfax' withdrawal of its cash injection to help finance the ISP's OzEmail acquisition, was leading the pack again today.
The ailing ISP took a 30 percent nosedive yesterday ahead of the much-anticipated news that UUNET would terminate its agreement to sell the OzEmail Internet business to eisa.
The widespread industry speculation was confirmed in late morning news - although it didn't rock the boat too much more for eisa. Market value dropped a further 10.8 percent and wallowed at an all-time low of 29 cents for some of the morning. eisa's share price had pulled itself back up to trade at 36 cents by midday.
Bad news comes in threes and things took another turn for the worse for hard-hit eisa, which announced the resignation of two of its board members. Chairman John Pascoe and Director Michael Ball both leave the company on grounds of ill health. Eisa confirmed that Evan Rees will assume acting Chairman responsibilities whilst a search gets underway for replacement directors.
Local telecommunications carriers also took a battering in morning trade. The telcos were leaders in volume on yesterday's market and this was echoed again today as traders continued to sell out of the sector.
Davnet (DVT) led the slide -- with volumes over the six million mark by late morning. Market value of the junior telco was down 10 percent to AU$1.26.
Davnet announced today announced that negotiations for the acquisition of New World Telephone Holdings' FTNS business had ended. However, both companies claim interest in pursuing other strategic commercial relationships should opportunities arise.
Cable & Wireless Optus (CWO) was also caught up in voluminous trading and shares were down 1.7 percent to AU$4.71.
Telstra (TLS) managed to lift its head slightly for part of the morning and share price had risen by 0.1 percent to trade at AU$6.81. The federal government, in announcing AU$65 million of rural telecommunications initiatives, voiced its support of the industry giant.
Telstra's second tranche investors, however, saw further paper loss of 1.3 percent and market value was down to AU$3.81.
Profit-takers moved in on Triple-I entrants Channel E (CEL) and Internet security company SecureNet (SNX) - subject to percentage boosts of 13.6 percent and 11.2 percent respectively. Business and financial news provider Channel E was trading at 25 cents and SecureNet's share price was AU$7.27.
At midday, the value of the Triple-I Index was 603.4.
