Australian Index Soars 7% in the First Half; Dollar at 26-year High

Marcus Jacob
30 Jun, 2011
New York City

The Australian stocks scaled higher after Greece approved deeply unpopular austerity measures. The benchmark index soared 7% in the first half of the year as mining companies led gainers. Insurance Australia Group estimated margins between 8% and 10% in the current year.

[R]4:40 PM Sydney – The Australian stocks scaled higher after Greece approved deeply unpopular austerity measures. The benchmark index soared 7% in the first half of the year as mining companies led gainers. Insurance Australia Group estimated margins between 8% and 10% in the current year.[/R]

The Australian benchmark index soared tracking the gains in international markets after the Greek Parliament passed austerity measures that will ensure the release of the last tranche of the bailout.

The widely expected move was welcomed by world markets but Greece faces considerable hurdles in implementing these measures and generating enough revenues to pay for new loans.

World markets and commodities braved higher on the hopes that the peripheral nations in the euro-zone and the euro will stabilize in the short term.

The ASX 200 index increased 78.50 or 1.7% to 4,608.5 and All Ordinaries index added 1.7% or 80 to 4,659.80.

For the year the ASX200 index added 7% and eight mining stocks were among the ten best performing stocks. New Zealand based coking coal developer Bathurst Resources led all index stocks with a surge of 568% followed by a rise in Aurora Oil & Gas of 331%, Lynas Corp of 263% and Iluka Resources of 243%.

The Australian dollar increased to US$1.071 and crude oil gained $2.01 US$94.80.

The Australian dollar hit a 26-year high against the British pound to 66.68 pence and closed at 66.65 pence. Against the yen, the dollar fetched 86.32

In trading, turnover increased to 2.96 billion shares worth $5.47 billion. Of the stocks traded, 822 stocks increased, 415 decreased and 423 closed unchanged.

Stock Movers

Energy related stocks closed higher after crude oil added 2.2%.

Santos Ltd increased 34 cents to $13.54, Woodside Petroleum added 38 cents to $41 and Oil Search Limited advanced 15 cents to $6.65.

BHP Billiton Ltd added 65 cents to $43.80 and Rio Tinto gained $1.46 to $82.99. Newcrest Mining Ltd increased 61 cents to $37.71.

BlueScope Steel increased 5.5 cents to $1.21 and CSL increased 76 cents to $33.06.

Insurance Australia Group increased 2 cents to $3.40 after the company guided insurance margin between 8% and 10% in the current fiscal year. Earlier the company had estimated latest Christchurch earthquake cost of as much as $65 million.