Australian Indexes Fall 1%; Miners Hold Firm

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Sanjay Barot
30 Jun, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia declined for the second day on China growth worries and global economic recovery. Lending by banks and other finance companies rose in May. Export of coal from Newcastle increases. Rio Tinto signs agreement on prospecting in Kazakhstan.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia declined for the second day on China growth worries and global economic recovery. Lending by banks and other finance companies rose in May. Export of coal from Newcastle increases. Rio Tinto signs agreement on prospecting in Kazakhstan.[/R]

Stocks in Australia continued to echoing other major exchanges in Asia on global worries. The ASX 200 Index fell 1.02% or 44.20 to close at 4,301.50 in Sydney today.

The miners met with Treasurer Wayne Swan, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Prime Minister Julia Gillard to discuss the super profit tax.

While the government did not reveal details of the meeting, Fortescue Metal Group Ltd CEO, Andrew Forrest yesterday said Gillard must give more concessions on the tax announced on May 2.

“We had reached a set of points which I think the prime minister was happy with and the mining industry would have been prepared to discuss and that was all taken off the table before it could be announced,” Forrest told reporters in Perth yesterday.

Lending by banks and other finance companies in May advanced 0.5% from April, when it rose a revised 0.3%, according to details released by the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney today.

The report noted that loans to home buyers in May increased 0.7% from April and by 8.6% from a year earlier, while credit given for other purchases dropped 0.5% from April with an annual gain of 3.1%.

Sydney-based MGPA, a private equity real estate investment firm that is partly owned by Macquarie Group Ltd, is planning to double its real estate assets in Japan over the next five years to benefit from a recovery in the land prices that have fallen to the lowest level in 36 years.

“Tokyo itself is good investment destination because of its population growth and economic resilience,” said the newly appointed CEO Simon Treacy in an interview yesterday.

Coal exports from Newcastle, the world’s biggest port for export of coal, rose by 3.6% last week even as the number of vessels waiting to be loaded increased.

The volume of coal exported for the week ended June 23 at climbed to 2.11 million tons from 2.04 million in the previous week, Newcastle Port Corp said on its Web site today.

The number of vessels outside the harbor rose to 61 from 51 a week earlier. Waiting period for coal ships increased to an average 15.17 days from 14.67 days from a week earlier, compared to 1.29 days for general cargo, the report said.

ASX Movers

CuDeco Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 8.7% followed by Elders Limited 6.8%, Panoramic Resources Limited 3.8% and Challenger Infrastructure Fund 3.7%.

Ausenco Limited led decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 7.7% followed by Roc Oil Company Limited 5.9%, Medusa Mining Limited 5.5%, Lynas Corporation Limited 5.2% and Aquila Resources Limited 5.1%.

Other Movers

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the lender, fell 1.1% to A$21.61.

BHP Billiton plc fell 1.1% to A$37.65 after the mining company said copper for delivery in three months fell as much as 0.6% to $6,458 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd fell 4.4% to A$4.12 after the iron ore miner said new Prime Minister Julia Gillard must make more concessions on a planned mining tax than canvassed by her predecessor Kevin Rudd.

Qantas Airways Limited, the airline, dropped 1.3% to A$2.20.

Rio Tinto Limited fell 2.5% to A$66.66 after the mining company signed on Wednesday an agreement with Kazakh state company Tau-Ken Samruk on joint prospecting and mining in the Central Asian state.