Sydney Slips; Westfield Dividend

Chandrasekhar Atreya
29 Jul, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia fell after Fed

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia fell after Fed’s report signaled a slowdown in the economy. Mineral Council blames the big three miners for the tax imbroglio. A new fiber optic cable will link Australia, NZ and the U.S.[/R]

The Australian stock market fell sharply after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey signaled a slowdown in economic activity, before recouping losses to close marginally lower.

The ASX 200 fell 0.13% or 5.80 to close at 4,524.10 in Sydney today.

The Minerals Council of Australia did nothing for the rest of the mining industry when the federal government stitched up a compromised tax deal with three sector giants, the Sydney Mining Club said.

Club Chairman Julian Malnic is urging members to back Liberal leader Tony Abbott, who lists scrapping the mining tax as one of his four key tasks if he wins the August 21 federal poll.

Leighton Holdings won a five-year contract to provide construction and maintenance services to Queensland’s electricity provider, Ergon Energy. Under the agreement valued at A$100 million, Leighton subsidiary Theiss Services will provide “network construction and maintenance services” to Queensland’s growing central and northern regions, the Sydney-based company said in a statement today.

Arrow Energy Ltd said gross sales in financial year 2010 were up strongly, with gas and electricity sales doubling over the previous year. Gross electricity sales were up 101.7% in the year to June 30, while gross gas sales were up 22.5%, the company said.

Gold producer St Barbara Ltd said it produced 231,018 ounces in fiscal 2010, marginally above the guidance of 220,000 to 230,000 ounces. Growth at Leonora operations will take output to more than 300,000 ounces in fiscal year 2012, the company said.

ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that it would sell its entire stake in the Russian oil company Lukoil by the end of the next year.

Export Development Canada has issued $650 million of kangaroo bonds.

The world’s biggest shopping centre owner Westfield will pay a distribution of 32 cents per security for the six months to June 30. The distribution represents half of the 64 cent per share distribution for 2010, forecast by the company in February, Sydney-based Westfield said on Wednesday.

MAP Group, the owner of Sydney Airport, confirmed on Wednesday it is considering selling its 16% stake in Mexican airport group Aeroportuario del Sureste, which could raise up to A$300 million.

A fiber optic cable linking Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. is to be built for an estimated $400 million. The high efficiency 13,600 kilometer Pacific Fiber cable will be built jointly by Pacific Fiber Ltd and Asian telecommunication services provider Pacnet, both companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

Consolidated Minerals Ltd plans to raise manganese output by 25% to meet rising global demand by steelmakers.

“We’re ramping up production at Woodie Woodie just as global demand for manganese is picking up. Production at the mine was 603,000 tons in the first half, putting it on track to produce 1.2 million tons for the first time this year,” said CEO of the company Glen Baldwin in an interview at the mine site yesterday.

Resources News

Engineering firm Downer EDI signs a A$2 billion, five-year contract with BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi at their coal mines in Queensland. The contracts are for services at the Goonyella River and Norwich Park mines in Bowen Basin.

Hot Rock Limited’s Otway Basin geothermal resources in Victoria are large. They are located in the middle of a large population base of 5 million people with a major 500 KV electrical transmission system nearby. The company has already completed the largest MT geophysical survey for geothermal to date in Australia over a part of this resource. The existing data shows potential to generate 35% of the state of Victoria’s electricity needs.

UK gas major British Gas Plc confirmed it expects to reach a final investment decision on its Australian LNG projects later this year, but refrained from commenting on the delay in securing federal environmental approvals.

Conoco & Origin are 50-50 partners in the coal-seam gas-fed Australia Pacific LNG project.

U.S. explorer Hess has reported another discovery in its intensive exploration program in the Carnarvon Basin.

Gainers & Losers

Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd led the gainers in ASX 200 with a gain of 10.81% to A$0.41 followed by Sundance Resources Ltd 6.9% to A$0.155 and Mount Gibson Iron Ltd 4.91% to A$1.71.

AWB Limited led the losers in the index with a fall of 6.83% to A$0.955 followed by Charter Hall Group 4.62% to A$0.62 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd 4.35% to A$0.44.