Sydney Gains; Coal Export Rises

Chandrasekhar Atreya
10 Sep, 2010
New York City

The benchmark index in Australia failed to build on gains in international markets. Competition regulator blocks Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand alliance. Export of coal from Newcastle rises in the week ending September 6.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – The benchmark index in Australia failed to build on gains in international markets. Competition regulator blocks Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand alliance. Export of coal from Newcastle rises in the week ending September 6.[/R]

Australian stock market edged higher on Friday morning following higher close in Europe and the U.S. Index lost steam in the last hour of trading and closed lower.

The ASX 200 Index lost 0.48% or 21.90 to close at 4,560.30.

Toyota Australia decided to invest $300 million to expand production at its Altona plant in Melbourne, in a major boost for the local car industry.

The federal government said it will contribute A$63 million and the Victorian government at least another A$10 million, in addition to the federal funding granted in 2008 for Camry petrol-electric hybrid to be produced locally.

The competition regulator issued a draft ruling Friday that proposes to block an alliance between rival airlines Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand on flights between New Zealand and Australia.

BHP Billiton continued talks with Arcelor Mittal regarding iron ore ventures in Guinea and Liberia but talks related to Western Australia mines have been terminated, sources in two companies confirmed.

Cockatoo Coal said Friday it may sell some or all of its Surat Basin assets in Queensland to Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Cockatoo has 100% interest in about 3,900 sq kilometer of coal-bearing tenements in the Surat Basin.

The company said it entered into an exclusive agreement with Mitsui, under which Mitsui has the right to complete due diligence and investigations into a possible transaction by March 11, 2011.

Export of coal from Newcastle rose by 22.6% last week while ships waiting to berth and load lengthened.

The volume of coal exported in the week ended September 6 increased to 2.04 million tons from 1.66 million tons in the preceding week, Newcastle Port Corp said on its Web site Friday.

Resources News

Breakaway Resources says drilling to date by joint venture partner BHP Billiton has highlighted a number of positive geological features that reinforces the potential of the Altia deposit in Queensland.

Giralia Resources reported an increase to the JORC-reported inferred mineral resource at its wholly-owned McPhee Creek main range iron ore discovery.

Newport Mining announced “encouraging” reconnaissance rock chip sampling results at the Mata da Corda Phosphate project in Brazil.

NiPlats Australia took out a new exploration license application immediately north and adjacent to its current tenement holdings at Speewah Dome in Western Australia.

Extract Resources reported it received high-grade results from resource definition and exploration drilling at the Husab Uranium project in Namibia.

Gainers & Losers

Murchison Metals Ltd led the gainers in the ASX 200 with a rally of 14.85% to A$1.74 followed by Macquarie Atlas Roads Group 3.64% to A$1.425 and Lend Lease Group 3.58% to A$7.52.

Sundance Resources Ltd led the decliners in the index with a fall of 9.09% to A$0.200 followed by Avoca Resources 8.75% to A$2.92 and Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd 6.98% to A$0.400.