Australian PPI Rises, Dollar Fall

Darlington Musarurwa
27 Apr, 2010
New York City

Australian dollar traded lower after investors fear debt worries of Greece may spread to Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Producer prices in three months to March increased 1% but declined 0.1% from the quarter a year ago.

[R]7:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Australian dollar traded lower after investors fear debt worries of Greece may spread to Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Producer prices in three months to March increased 1% but declined 0.1% from the quarter a year ago.[/R]

Australian dollar fell today as concern about Greece’s deficit crisis deepened. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany will release rescue funds to Greece only after the country has a sustainable plan to cut its budget deficit.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects no impact from the proposed strike by specialist cleaners on production at its Geelong refinery, which supplies half of Victoria states fuel needs.

Royal Dutch issued a statement after strike call announced by the cleaner’s union after the new contractor terminated the employment of 20 cleaners. The union has given Shell till 2:00 PM local time tomorrow to guarantee the 20 cleaners jobs and pay.

Infigen Energy, the Australian wind power producer scrapped its plan to sell its US business after the company received lower than expected bids. The purpose of the sale was to accelerate the growth in the Australian market said the company’s Managing Director Miles George. Infigen Energy, formerly Babcock Wilcox Wind Power Ltd

Australia stocks dropped 0.03% on falling bank stocks after the country’s producer prices rose more than expected in March, according to a government report.

However, commodity stocks pared losses as gold prices edged up 0.1% to $1,154 per ounce.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index decreased 0.03% or 1.5 to 4,880.00.

ASX 200 index in Australia increased or 1.20 or 0.02% to 4,882.70 and of the stocks in S&P ASX 200 index, 118 increased, 60 declined and 22 were unchanged.

The Australian dollar fell 0.2% to 92.52 U.S. cents.

Australian Producer Prices Rise 1% in March

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported today that the country’s producer prices rose 1% in three months to March from the previous three months, but fell 0.1% from the same period a year earlier.

Prices were driven mainly by building constructions 0.6%; petroleum refining 8.1%; and electricity, gas and water supply 3.3%.

However, there were price decreases in commercial fishing 12.2% and other food product manufacturing 1.6%.

The ABS also noted that the prices of intermediate goods soared 1.2% in the March quarter from the previous three months, but dropped 2.2% from the comparable year ago period.

Increases were pushed by price increases in petroleum refining 8.4%; metal ore mining 12.7%; and grain, sheep, beef and dairy cattle farming 5.7%.

Gains in intermediate goods were pared by declines in oil and gas extraction 4.0%; sheet metal product manufacturing 5.0% and basic chemical manufacturing 1.8%.

The prices of preliminary commodities jumped 1% in the three months to March due to increases in 8.4%; grain, sheep, beef and dairy cattle farming 5.9% and metal ore mining 10.9%.

Gains were trimmed by oil and gas extraction 4.0% and basic chemical manufacturing 1.6%.

Oil Search Q1 Revenues Rise

Papua New Guinea’s oil and gas producer Oil Search Ltd announced today in a statement that its first quarter revenues for the three months ended March climbed to $133 million from $68.6 million in the same period a year ago.

Production increased 5% to 2 million barrels of oil equivalent from 1.9 million barrels a year ago leveraged by rising production from the Kutubu oil project, which is northwest of Port Moresby.

The Papua New Guinea LNG venture is expected to produce an estimated 9 trillion cubic feet of gas during its first 30 years of operation, while gas deliveries are scheduled to start in 2014.

The company sold crude oil for an average of $73.78 a barrel in the first quarter against $45.83 in the same period a year earlier.

Federal Court Approves $39.5 Million in AWB Class Action

AWB reported today that the Federal Court has approved a $39.5 million settlement in class action against AWB pertaining to the Iraqi kickbacks scandal.

The ruling effectively means that the Watson class action is dismissed without admission of liability by AWB.

ASX Movers

Infigen Energy led decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 15.4% followed by CSL Limited of 4.1%, PaperlinX Limited 3.6%, West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited 3.6% and Goodman Group 2.7%.

Aquarius Platinum Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 5.3% followed by Gunns Limited 3.8%, Medusa Mining Limited 3.7% and PanAust Limited 3.6%.

Other Movers

CSL Limited the plasma derivative maker fell 4.1% to A$32.54.

Indophil Resources NL added 1.3% to A$1.16 after China’s Zijin Mining Group Co. said Chinese regulatory approval for the offer is taking longer than expected.

Infigen Energy decreased 15.0% to A$1.02 after the wind power producer said Tuesday that it has terminated the sale of its U.S. wind farms and slashed distribution payments to investors.

The company failed to attract bids for an auction to raise close to A$2 billion, according to Dow Jones report.

Oil Search Limited rose 0.8% to A$5.81 after the oil and gas producer said first quarter revenue almost doubled.