Rates in Australia on Hold; Sydney Gains

Chandrasekhar Atreya
03 Aug, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia traded higher on offshore leads after RBA left interest rate unchanged. Building approvals falls in June. Linc Energy stops trading of shares till August 5. Aston Resources IPO started on Monday.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia traded higher on offshore leads after RBA left interest rate unchanged. Building approvals falls in June. Linc Energy stops trading of shares till August 5. Aston Resources IPO started on Monday.[/R]

After RBA left interest rates on hold for the third month in a row, shares in Australia followed strong offshore leads to consolidate the gains made on Monday. Stocks started trading today on brighter note and after some drop during the day finished higher.

The ASX 200 Index in Sydney gained 0.66% or 30 points to close at 4,571.60.

Retail trade at current prices rose 0.2% in June to a seasonally adjusted A$20.184 billion, from a downwardly revised A$20.146 billion in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

Over the June quarter, retail sales rose by 0.8% to A$57.925 billion in seasonally adjusted volume terms.

Building approvals fell 3.3% to 13,267 units in June, seasonally adjusted, from an upwardly revised 13,721 units in May, the Australian Bureau of statistics said today. In the year to June, building approvals were up 13.2%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third straight month. Policy makers led by Governor Glen Stevens kept the overnight cash rate target at 4.5%, the RBA said in a statement in Sydney today.

Linc Energy Ltd has requested halting of its shares being traded in Sydney pending an announcement on the sale of one of its coal assets in Queensland. The halt in trading may remain in force until start of trading on August 5, Brisbane-based Linc said in a statement.

Hill Industries Ltd said its full year profit quadrupled after a turnaround in the company’s home and hardware division. Net income in the year to June 30 climbed to A$40.2 million from A$9.5 million a year ago, Adelaide-based Hill said in a statement today.

Resource News

Troy Resources is on track and on budget, for first gold pour at the Casposo gold project in September quarter 2010.

The book build for the $1.5 billion IPO of Nathan Tinkler’s Aston Resources is scheduled to launch Monday and run through until Thursday morning and is set to raise $400 million.

Cougar Energy’s shares remain suspended from trade, as the company at the center of a water contamination scare in Queensland speaks to lenders about refinancing its key project. The shares have been suspended from trade since July 16, after the Queensland government found traces of benzene and toluene in groundwater at its Kingaroy site and a neighboring property.

Rio Tinto has increased the initial sale of its planned iron ore export operation at Simandou in Guinea to 95 million tons a year from 70 million tons.

Renewable energy outfit CBD Energy is on track to cut solar energy deals in Thailand and Italy worth $60 billion in the third quarter this year.

Gainers & Losers

Hills Industries Ltd led the gainers in the ASX 200 to gain by 11.06% to A$2.41 followed by Perseus Mining Ltd 7.34% to A$2.34 and Aquila Resources Ltd 5.97% to A$7.99.

Spark Infrastructure Group led the decliners with a drop of 3.64% A$1.19 followed by Crane Group Ltd 2.96% to A$8.53 and OM Holdings Ltd 2.34% to A$1.46.