Reuters cited Mr Graeme Liebel MD of Australia's Orica Limited as saying that his company is likely to make a few small acquisitions in the next few months.

He warned that most of the group's businesses were likely to face a tougher H2 than in the H1. Mr Liebelt said that "What I would say is that we don't see many sectors getting better in the H2 relatively speaking."

He said that "The outlook is that most likely things will be a little weaker relatively speaking in the H2 in our markets and we need to adapt accordingly."

(Sourced from Reuters)