Rio Tinto Limited

The Australian stock market opened lower today, after poor signals on the US jobs market sent Wall Street slightly lower overnight.

The Australian stock market opened lower on Wednesday, shedding gains after hitting a six-week high on the previous day. In early trade, S&P/ASX200 index was down 0.3 per cent, at 4558.1 points, while All Ordinaries index had fallen 0.28 per cent, to 4573.8 points. Financial and industrial stocks were down 0.5 per cent and the materials sector was 0.4 per cent lower.

The Australian stock market swung higher this morning after Wall Street hit a ten-week high after better-than-expected manufacturing data and strong European bank earnings. Almost all sectors have performed strong, leading by Materials, Information Technology and Energy.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) said in its second quarter 2010 operations review that markets for most of the products are strong and the overall long term demand outlook is positive.

The Australian sharemarket Wednesday opened higher with gains across all sectors, as Wall Street significantly surged overnight, inspired by the upbeat corporate earnings for the second quarter. Today The S&P/ASX 200 index jumped approximately 1.7 per cent shortly after the opening bell.

A boost in resources stocks on Friday helped to break the eight-day losing streak in Australian stocks market. The local market finished marginally higher at the close, despite the proposed new minerals resources rent tax sparked a strong gain in early trade. This is largely due to Investors' refocuse on global economy issues.

The Australian market Wednesday ended the last trading session of the 2010 financial year in a negative territory. The market clawed back some ground from the sharp loss in early trade. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 44.2 points, or 1.02 per cent, at 4,301.5 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 45.8 points, or 1.05 per cent, at 4,324.8.

The Australian share market delivered a strong opening on Wednesday as Wall Street's rally overnight boosted confidence in local market. S&P/ASX200 index rose 1.4 per cent in early trade, driven by resources, industrial and financial stocks. The Australian shares yesterday closed slightly lower with light volumes while Asia markets were mostly flat.

Aluminum Corp of China (SHA:601600) (HKG:2600), or Chalco, is three weeks away from deadline to submit a feasibility study of developing a refinery for the Aurukun bauxite deposit in Queensland. The state government has indicated that Chalco has to build an aluminium refinery on the state's east coast as part of the requirements to secure the lease.

Global giant Rio Tinto called Australia's planned new mining tax its top regulatory threat worldwide Monday.