Khan you say dot com odd itty?

That guy, Farooq Khan, sounds like one of those never-say-die sort, who can always be counted on to bounce back, judging by this report:

"Farooq Khan must be thinking the dotcom days are back. Khan's Fast Scout, which started life as an internet search engine, surged 112 per cent yesterday, following a 627 per cent gain on Wednesday after it announced an acquisition in the fashionable uranium sector. The stock is now trading at 17c, up from 1.1c a week ago, and in the past two days more than 50 million shares have changed hands, compared to its typical volume of less than 100,000 (before the U word was mentioned.) So what's the deal? A 75 per cent interest, acquired from Hume Mining, in "a suite of uranium exploration tenement applications" in the Northern Territory. Fast Scout's evolution from an internet company to a corporate raider was triggered by the tech wreck, which saw many dotcoms reduced to little more than cash boxes. Khan has used Fast Scout as one of his main investment vehicles, with a list of acquisitions including bigshop.com.au, DVT Holdings (formerly Davnet) and Sofcom, which at one time featured Jeff Kennett as chairman. He's also taken the chair at $13 million investment fund Bentley, which was a listed fund once run by BT. Khan graduated to biotech with a bid for Biota and was also associated with a long running battle for control of Rene Rivkin's Rivkin Financial Services last year." http://www.smh.com.au/news/xchange/khans-fast-scout-makes-swift-fortune/2005/09/22/1126982176265.html

Did anyone mention dot.commodity boom? Yeah, I did: http://guambatstew.blogspot.com/2005/08/dotcommodity-boom.html

And on that subject, here is the market wrap from yesterday:

"Commodities propped up the Australian sharemarket which ignored a weak overseas lead yesterday. After dipping at the start of trading, the ASX 200 benchmark rallied through the day to close up 9.5 points at 4561.9, while the All Ordinaries gained 9.8 points to close at 4511.6. These gains were made despite poor signals from the US markets, which are nervously awaiting the onslaught of category five storm Hurricane Rita on the Texan coast. "It certainly is a resilient market," Macquarie Bank's Lucinda Chan said. "It is amazing with high oil prices and two hurricanes - the market is just ignoring everything at the moment." Goldminers, oil stocks and energy stocks were the beneficiaries on the Australian market. "Resources are the drivers at the moment. Strong cash flow is allowing people to stay overweight in the commodities. You can play banks all your life to be defensive if you're scared but if you're looking for growth then resources are where the strength will be," Ms Chan said." http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/buoyant-resources-keep-market-afloat/2005/09/22/1126982176268.html

I'm sure she'd add: past performance is no prediction of future profit. She might also be so kind as to point out that, of the whole rising market, resources and energy combined only account for roughly one-quarter of the market value. Does the other three-fouths of the market have the same growth value? http://guambatstew.blogspot.com/2005/09/oils-aint-oils.html

And one more item following this commodity boom thread:

"Chinese metals companies such as Beijing Shougang are in talks to spend as much as $10 billion on Australian mines to ensure their mills don't run out of raw materials.
As competition for minerals increases, steel makers and traders including Beijing Shougang and Sinosteel Corp are going to the source to ensure they have enough iron ore and coal.
Overseas investment "is a necessary and natural step for Chinese metal producers because the country is short of natural resources," said Lin Hai of Guotai Asset Management. "With these investments they can lower costs and take pre-emptive rights on the raw materials."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/chinese-look-to-invest-up-to-10b-in-australian-mines/2005/09/22/1126982176262.html