Uranium Miners Lead Australian Stocks Lower; QBE Estimates $125 M Loss

Marcus Jacob
14 Mar, 2011
New York City

Australian indexes closed lower for the fifth day in last six trading sessions. The Australian dollar in a volatile session edged lower and QBE Insurance estimated its share of Japan tsunami losses not to exceed $125 million. Uranium miners led the decliners.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian indexes closed lower for the fifth day in last six trading sessions. The Australian dollar in a volatile session edged lower and QBE Insurance estimated its share of Japan tsunami losses not to exceed $125 million. Uranium miners led the decliners.[/R]

Stocks in Australia declined in a cautious trading as investors focused on rising death toll and possible nuclear reactor meltdown worries in Japan. Australian indexes declined for the fifth time in the last six days.

The ASX 200 index declined 18.4 to 4,626.40 and All Ordinaries index fell 24.70 to 4,710.10. The benchmark index Nikkei 2205 Stock Average declined 6.1% or 633.94 to 9,620.49 and nuclear power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company dropped 24%.

The Australian dollar closed down to US$1.007 and crude oil futures declined US$1.59 to US$101.12.

Resource stocks and commodities traded volatile as the sentiment shifted after the Bank of Japan added liquidity to the local market to weaken the yen.

Investors surmised that Japan rebuild will lift the demand for commodities but also worried that the demand may be subdued in the short term.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton decreased 10 cents to $44.09 and Rio Tinto declined 35 cents to $79.15.

Uranium extraction linked stocks were on the slide. Toro Energy fell 3 cents to 23.08 cents and Paladin Energy dropped 78 cents to $3.95.

Extract Resources declined 82 cents to $9.81 and Energy Resources of Australia fell $1.15 to $8.25.

Banks closed lower. ANZ dropped 21 cents to $22.96, Westpac fell 28 cents to $50.58 and NAB dropped 6 cents to $24.68.

Woodside Energy increased 40 cents to $42.20 on a speculation that new safety concerns relating to nuclear power plants could spur the building of natural gas supported power plants.

Insurance companies were in focus in Sydney trading. QBE Insurance confirmed that its exposure to Japan earthquake and tsunami is not likely to exceed US$125 million compared to its annual aggregate expenses including reinsurance exposure of US$1.65 billion for the calendar 2011.

The annual estimate was announced on Feb 28.