Market Report: fears of double dip U.S recession continue to haunt

Australian shares staged a small comeback on Friday ending eight days of consecutive losses incured as investors eyed the looming spectre of a double-dip recession in the U.S, and as data out of China showed that measures aimed at slowing its economy were working.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 1.2 points at 4238.7, after earlier rising as high as 4281.6, while the broader All Ordinaries index edged up 2.2 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4264.9. Asian stocks were mixed.

Industrials was the best performing index on the Australian bourse, up 1.6 percent. In contrast gold stocks were a drag on the market, dropping 2.7 percent, after a fall in gold prices overnight.

A number of major resources stocks posted modest gains early in the day on news that the federal government had reached a compromise with the mining industry over its proposed super profits tax, however the sector ended the day flat.

The S&P ASX Healthcare Index finished the day up a modest 48 points to 8,036.20 after a fairly subdued trading session. Looking at the majors Cochlear and ResMed were down 1.5 and 1.97 percent respectively, while market leader CSL gained 1.28 percent.

Clinical and diagnostic technology provider Labtech systems was the worst performer today, down 4.6 percent as investors took profits following its announcement yesterday that it had secured the first sale in Australia of its breakthrough automated microbiology product PREVI Isola.

Best performer of the day was polyclonal antibody company Immuron ( formerly Anadis ), which gained 4.29 percent. The company announced today the issue of 11,477,168 ordinary shares.