Sydney Index Down 1.2%; Jobless Rate 5.3%

Chandrasekhar Atreya
12 Aug, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia fell further after unemployment in July increased to 5.3%. Coal exports increased from Newcastle port helped by drier weather. AGL Energy plans to expand in renewable energy projects.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia fell further after unemployment in July increased to 5.3%. Coal exports increased from Newcastle port helped by drier weather. AGL Energy plans to expand in renewable energy projects.[/R]

Australian shares traded lower echoing Asian bourses after increase in July jobless rate damped investor sentiments.

The ASX 200 Index lost 1.23% or 54.60 to close at 4,400.90 in Sydney.

Companies added 23,500 new jobs in July as a mining boom fueled by Chinese demand prompted resource firms to employ more people. The unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 5.3% compared to 5.1% a month earlier, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Oz Minerals approved more than A$2.45 billion of new projects since resources super profit tax was converted into MRRT.

Australia Pacific Airport Melbourne Pty Ltd, the operator of Melbourne Airport, plans to sell at least A$200 million of six-year bonds to fund its expansion project. The five-year A$330 million project needs additional funds to finish on schedule.

The notes maybe priced to yield about 190 basis points more than the swap rate, according to Westpac Banking Corp the co-manager of the issue.

Sydney-based AGL Energy Ltd, said it expects the Macarthur wind farm in the state of Victoria to cost as much as A$1 billion to develop and complete by early 2013. The company and partner Meridian Energy of New Zealand agreed to build a 420 megawatt project to power more than 220,000 homes that will be the biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere.

Thai state oil explorer PTTEP faces a formal government review of its operations in Australia in the wake of last year’s Montara oil spill, to determine under what conditions the company can continue its operations.

Jacka Resources will offer 13.17 million share options at 1 cent each on the basis of one option for every two shares held on August 30.

Legend Mining sold 900,000 Independence Group shares in the market over the past six weeks for A$4.85 million.

Coal exports at Australia’s Newcastle Port, the world’s largest coal export terminal, rose 6.4% in the latest week, as a drier weather allowed miners to increase output and shipments, port data showed Wednesday.

AGL Energy and Meridian Energy have awarded a A$1 billion contract to a joint venture of Leighton Contractors and Danish manufacturer Vestas to construct a major new wind farm in Victoria’s southwest.

AGL Energy may spend A$10 billion building renewable sources of energy capacity as Australia looks to target one-fifth of it power requirements from alternate sources of energy.

“We need to build around 5,000 megawatts of renewable capacity and our customer base will underpin that since some 33% of power portfolio is from renewable sources,” said Michael Fraser, Managing Director of the company in an interview in Melbourne.

Resource News

Tap Oil gave up an exploration license in the Philippines after failing to find a partner to help fund an exploration well, due to be drilled by May next year.

Greenpower Energy reports that work has started on its geothermal project at Esperance in Western Australia.

Petsec Energy is participating in a well being drilled in shallow waters along the Louisiana gulf coast.

Comprehensive testing of water quality at Kogan Creek near Carbon Energy’s underground coal gasification plant in Queensland’s south west has shown no signs of contamination.

Shares of Ramelius Resources added 9% in early trading after the gold miner flagged a four-fold increase in pre-tax profit and further exploration success at its Wattle Dam project.

Gainers & Losers

Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd led the gainers in the ASX 200 Index with a gain of 7.78% to A$0.485 followed by Myer Holdings Ltd 4.6% to A$3.64 and Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd 4.18% to A$11.72.

Resmed Inc led the decliners with a loss of 50.42% to A$3.53 followed by Telstra Corp Ltd 9.54% to A$2.94 and James Hardie Industries SE 7.47% to A$5.70.