Sydney Declines; Home Approvals Rise

Chandrasekhar Atreya
08 Sep, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia closed fractionally lower. Prime Minister Gillard commits to regional infrastructure plan worth A$800 million. Home approvals rose more than expected in July. Toyota recalls HiLux cars in Australia.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia closed fractionally lower. Prime Minister Gillard commits to regional infrastructure plan worth A$800 million. Home approvals rose more than expected in July. Toyota recalls HiLux cars in Australia.[/R]

Stocks in Australia fell after renewed concerns about the sovereign debt crisis in Europe stoked concerns but losses were trimmed following a decision by Foster’s Group to reject a private equity bid.

The ASX 200 Index lost 0.79% or 36 points to close at 4,537.20.

Julia Gillard after winning the trust of two independents, committed her Labor minority government to an A$800 million priority regional infrastructure plan, outlining programs she claimed would deliver almost A$10 billion worth of benefits to regional Australia.

Home approvals rose more than expected in July after banks increased efforts to issue more mortgages.

Export earnings in the June quarter from energy and minerals was the second highest on record. Earnings increased by 41% to A$44 billion compared to the previous quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics Bureau of Rural Sciences statistics show.

Higher prices for bulk commodities, and increases in coal, iron ore, and crude oil exports were behind the result, the bureau’s Deputy Executive Director, Paul Morris said.

For the fiscal year ending in March 2010 energy and mineral exports declined by 14% to A$137 billion.

Wattyl shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of U.S. giant Valspar’s takeover offer of $142 million in cash on Wednesday afternoon.

Energy Ventures sold a stake to investors at 3.5 cents a share to raise A$500,000.

Toyota Motor Corp recalled 116,507 four-wheel drive gasoline and turbo-diesel HiLux vehicles produced between January 2005 and February 2010, in Australia.

Harsh acceleration or deceleration may lead to the vehicle’s rear tailshift center bearing support brackets to give way, Toyota said in a statement Wednesday.

Resource News

Gold Anomaly reported additional encouraging gold assays from trench sampling at the Crater Mountain gold project.

Mutiny Gold announced an update to its Gullewa acquisition with an overview of the iron ore resource potential at Gullewa in the Murchison greenstone belt of Western Australia’s mid-west.

Cooper Energy acquired an interest in an attractive oil and gas exploration and appraisal portfolio in Poland through a joint venture agreement with RWE Dea Germany.

Consolidated Tin Mines reported that Queensland government granted license to its Windermere project at the Mount Garnet tin project area.

Dragon Mining said it received the first series of results from the western zone depth extension of 80 to 200 drilling at the Svartliden gold mine.

Gainers & Losers

Sundance Resources Ltd led the gainers in the ASX with a rally of 19.35% to A$0.185 followed by Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd 13.51% to A$0.42 and St Barbara Ltd 8.33% to A$0.39.

Energy World Corp led the losers in the index with the fall of 5.75% to A$0.41 followed by Sonic Healthcare Ltd 4.84% to A$11.01 and Platinum Australia Ltd 4.35% to A$0.66.