KEY POINTS:
WOW
Investors have sold down Woolworths after the company's half-year sales result came in slightly under analysts' expectations.
Woolworths said second-quarter revenue rose 8.3 per cent in the three months to December 30 to A$12.3 billion ($14 billion), compared with the expectation of about 10 per cent.
Woolworths said conditions were becoming tougher for its customers, with inflation and interest rates and petrol prices all on the rise.
The WOW share price dipped on the news showing that a nervous share market is giving no leeway to companies reporting results.
WOW is seen as a defensive stock but the share is well off its 2007 high. It trades on a high price to earnings ratio, which is its main vulnerability.
Also, a revival at its competitor Coles has yet to eventuate, but cannot be ruled out as a source of future pressure.
HLG
Hallenstein Glasson (HLG) shares picked up after the appointment of Shayne Quanchi as chief executive.
This is seen as proof that HLG sees its future in the fledgling Australian operation rather than New Zealand.
Quanchi was a senior executive at Myer in Australia where she was divisional business manager of Miss Shop and Young Mens.
Before that she held a management role with Just Jeans in Australia.
HLG shares have been hammered along with all retailers, whose shares represent an industry that investors tend to steer clear of in a downturn.
But the company has a reputation for conservative management that has got it through past bad cycles.
How this will fit with its intended growth strategy in Australia remains to be seen.