Australian GDP Expands 0.7%; Stocks Fall on Middle East Worries

Marcus Jacob
02 Mar, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks closed lower after oil and gold surged and unrest spread in Iran. Fighting continued in Libya and protesters returned to streets in Yemen and Oman. Australian GDP expanded 0.7% in the fourth quarter and increased 2.7% in 2010.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed lower after oil and gold surged and unrest spread in Iran. Fighting continued in Libya and protesters returned to streets in Yemen and Oman. Australian GDP expanded 0.7% in the fourth quarter and increased 2.7% in 2010.[/R]

Australian stocks closed sharply lower after international markets declined and crude oil surged as protests increase in Iran. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi loyal forces continue to fight rebels around capital Tripoli.

The ASX 200 index declined 23.20 or 0.5% to 4,803.20 and All Ordinaries index declined 22.1 or 0.45% to 4,898.30.

In trading, 3.8 billion shares changed hands worth $6.15 billion with 496 stocks closing higher, 496 closing lower and 352 remaining unchanged.

The Australian dollar edged lower to close at US$1.010 and Nymex crude oil futures increased 38 U.S. cents to US$100.01 a barrel.

Australian economy expanded at 0.7% in the fourth quarter ending in December from third quarter and gained 2.7% from a year ago quarter.

The third quarter growth was revised lower to 0.1% from the previous estimate of 0.2% according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The impact of Queensland floods, cyclone and heavy rains on the West coast are likely to have impact in the current quarter.

For the year the GDP expanded at 2.7% and build up in inventories added 0.8 percentage points and household final consumption contributed 0.2 percentage point.

Stock Movers

Resource stocks closed higher after gold closed at a 31-year high and crude oil traded at 2-year peak.

BHP Billiton edged lower 32 cents to $46.05 and Rio Tinto declined $1.19 to $84.12. Woodside Petroleum increased 6 cents to $42.63 and Santos increased 21 cents to $14.34.

AXA Asia Pacific Holdings increased 8 cents to $6.41 after the company won the shareholder approval for a buyout form AMP.

Banks fell in weak trading. Westpac decreased 7 cents to $23.20 and ANZ fell 16 cents to $23.86, National Australia Bank declined 2 cents to $25.55 and Commonwealth fell 47 cents to $52.57.

Retail stocks declined after the release of GDP data. Myer declined 4 cents to $3.26, Harvey Norman declined 2 cents to $3.01 and David Jones fell 10 cents to $4.52.