Sydney Stocks End Lower; Oil Explorations Drop 16%

Chandrasekhar Atreya
08 Dec, 2010
New York City

Sydney stocks ended lower, led by banks, after Federal Treasurer pledged to release banking competition measures by the next week. Home loan approvals rise in October. Coal stockpiles deplete at ports on heavy rains. Mineral exploration spending rises 4% in third quarter.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Sydney stocks ended lower, led by banks, after Federal Treasurer pledged to release banking competition measures by the next week. Home loan approvals rise in October. Coal stockpiles deplete at ports on heavy rains. Mineral exploration spending rises 4% in third quarter.[/R]

Australian shares traded in negative territory Wednesday afternoon, despite the buoyant home loans approvals data, led by banks after the Federal Treasurer pledged to release banking competition measures by the next week.

The ASX 200 closed 0.57% lower or 26.90 down to 4,699.90.

The Australian dollar edged lower to 97.80 U.S. cents in Sydney today, down from Tuesday’s close of 98.56 U.S. cents.

Loans for housing in Australia, after a year-long downward trend and falling to the low for the year in June, rose in October.

Seasonally adjusted number of loans to owner-occupied housing rose 1.9% and 2.8% in value, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. Overall lending rose by 2.2% in October from a month before for the fourth monthly rise in a row.

Wheat yields are set for a record this year, despite losses from floods and locust attacks, according to the official forecaster for crop yields in Australia.

Commsec predicted that this seasons’ wheat harvest will yield a record 26.8 million tons, outperforming the previous best recorded in 2003-04. It also predicted that rural Australia will have more money to spend despite some patchiness in the recovery.

Heavy rains and flooding has depleted coal stockpiles at mines and disrupted deliveries of the commodity at the Dalrymple Bay export terminal at Hay Port in Queensland, according to Greg Smith, General Manager of Operations at Dalrymple Bay, confirmed by phone today.

Cropper PrimeAg said that even though heavy rains in central Queensland damaged its crops, losses are unlikely to be less than its forecast for 2010-11. The company said that rain had cost less than 3% of its cotton crop and would lead to lower yields and quality downgrades on 40% of its un-harvested wheat and chickpea crops.

“This is unlikely to be material to the achievement of the fiscal year 2011 forecast result,” PrimeAg Chairman Peter Corish said today.

Total money spent on mineral exploration rose in the third quarter 4% to A$625.8 million, over the previous quarter, Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

However, spending on oil exploration in the third quarter dropped 16% to A$850.4 million, from the second quarter, the bureau said. Of this, offshore oil and gas exploration fell 20% in the third quarter to A$639.9 million while onshore exploration spending rose 0.6% to A$210.5 million.

Corporate Travel Management closed A$21.7 million IPO late Tuesday after the offering was oversubscribed following strong support from retail and institutional investors. Mindoro Resources IPO priced its offering today as well.

Corporate Travel is expected to list on the ASX on December 15.

The leading employment index of the federal government rose for the eighth month in a row in December pointing to its continued growth in coming months.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations said today its monthly leading indicator of employment was 0.091 in December compared with the figure of 0.078 in the previous month.

Chinese travelers are helping NSW to come out of its slump in tourism as the state attracts tourists from the mainland and Hong Kong.

Tourism Research Australia said today Chinese tourists made up 15.4% of the total visitors followed by the United Kingdom with 10.9%.

Stock Movers

ANZ Bank fell 1.45% at A$23.15 and Westpac edged lower 18 cents to close at A$21.76.

National Australia Bank lost 34 cents or 1.42% to close at A$23.62 and Commonwealth Bank shed 16 cents to A$49.60.

Rio Tinto edged higher tracking the gain in London Metals Exchange overnight and closed 17 cents higher at A$87.51. But BHP Billiton was lower at A$44.86 after shedding 22 cents.

Woodside Petroleum fell to A$42.73 losing 17 cents and Santos lost 1.42% to close at A$12.47.

Qantas dropped 5 cents to close at A$2.64 after appearing in Sydney’s Federal Court against Rolls-Royce, the maker of engines for its A380 fleet.

Aston Resources gained 5.26% to A$8.41 after finalizing a deal to sell 15% stake in Maules Creek coal project in NSW to Japan’s Itochu Corp for $345 million.