David Jones shares have had their biggest gains in around seven weeks after the billionaire Retailer Solomon Lew bought a large partial of the department store shares. David Jones says Solomon Lew’s investment company SL Nominees has bought 3.5 million of its shares, equivalent to 2/3 of 1% stake in the company. 

 

To the broad market, Australian shares struggled to follow Wall Street higher today. By the close, the All Ords was 0.5% or 25 points. The ASX 200 Index also lost 0.5%. Mining stocks were responsible for much of the fall after iron ore prices again dipped overnight. The spot iron ore price is now down 28% this year and that it’s lowest level since September, 2012. UBS has also cut its 2014 price outlook to 111 US dollars a ton. The Australian dollar has edged up against the greenback and is buying 93.12 US cents.