Australian Stocks Slide; Telstra Reaffirms, Lend Lease Up

Marcus Jacob
25 May, 2011
New York City

The Australian benchmark indexes declined for the second day this week. Mining and banks led the losers. Lend Lease increased after it guided current year return on equity of 15%. Telstra reaffirmed earnings outlook.

[R]6:30 PM Sydney – The Australian benchmark indexes declined for the second day this week. Mining and banks led the losers. Lend Lease increased after it guided current year return on equity of 15%. Telstra reaffirmed earnings outlook.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney trading declined for the second day this week on as weaker global economic sentiment. Markets in Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea and India edged lower.

The ASX 200 index declined 0.95% or 44.10 to 4,584.70 and All Ordinaries index fell 46.70 or 1% to 4,661.60.

The Australian dollar edged lower to US$1.05 and crude oil fell 27 cents to US$99.32.

Stock Movers

Banks led the decliners for the second day in a row. Macquarie Bank fell 2.7% to $32.80, National Australian Bank declined 51 cents to $25.98, Westpac fell 12 cents to $21.72 and Commonwealth Bank lost 91 cents to $50.01. ANZ eased 10 cents to $21.70.

Mining companies closed lower. BHP Billiton declined 27 cents to $42.97 and Rio Tinto fell 29 cents to $78.72. Newcrest Mining eased 43 cents to $37.62.

Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals developer Benitec increased 0.3 cents to 3.3 cents after the company said it was awarded a patent in Japan.

Lend Lease increased 3.3% or 28 cents to $8.70 after the property developer and construction company said it is on track to deliver 15% return on equity. Earlier the company sold its stake in a mall in Pennsylvania to a fund controlled by Morgan Stanley.

Westfield added 2 cents to $9.01 after it guided “strong performance” in the current calendar year.

Telstra reaffirmed its earnings and cash flow guidance and said it added net new one million new mobile services customers and 186,000 new land line customers.

The company has been under heavy pressure from customers for data download charges.

The company guided flat revenues growth and single-digit fall in operating earnings and free cash flow between $4.5 billion and $5 billion.