Australian Stocks Turn Lower; Commonwealth Bank, OneSteel Down

Marcus Jacob
16 Aug, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks were on the defensive after companies announced job cuts and Commonwealth Bank reported weaker than expected earnings. Resources linked companies closed lower after. OneSteel net declined 11%.

[R]4:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks were on the defensive after companies announced job cuts and Commonwealth Bank reported weaker than expected earnings. Resources linked companies closed lower after. OneSteel net declined 11%.[/R]

The Australian stocks closed lower after solid gains of two days. Job cuts at Westpac, OneSteel and Qantas put market on the defensive.

The ASX 200 index declined 35.6 or 0.8% to 4,247.30 and All Ordinaries index gained 29.50 or 0.6% to 4,317.30.

The Australian dollar decreased 0.6% to US$1.044 as the currency retraced 5 cents of the 10 cents loss in the last ten days of trading.

In trading, turnover was 2.1 billion shares worth $6.4 billion with 533 stocks rising, 542 declining and 328 unchanged.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd fell $0.42 to $39.43 and Rio Tinto added $1.13 to $73.39. Newcrest Mining Ltd decreased $1.70 to $38.70.

OZ Minerals declined 45 cents to $11.90 after the company said profit declined 72%.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd decreased 2 cents to $6.12 and Iluka Resources rose 22 cents to $16.83.

OneSteel increased $1.50 after the steel maker reported 11% declined in profit.

Woodside Petroleum Limited decreased $1.03 to $37.32 and Santos Limited fell 18 cents to $11.83. Origin Energy declined 21 cents to $13.98.

Linc Energy, the coal miner and underground coal gasification processes developer, fell 7 cents to $2.16. Macarthur Coal Limited added 13 cents to $15.38.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia decreased $0.55 to $46.83 and National Australian Bank decreased $0.36 to $23.21. ANZ fell 30 cents to $20.35.

Westpac fell 92 cents to $20.25 after the bank report 2% decline in third quarterly earnings of $1.55 billion.

Telstra was unchanged at $3.11.

JB Hi-Fi fell 27 cents to $15.50, David Jones Limited added 3 cents to $2.68 and Wesfarmers Limited decreased 4 cents to $29.62.

Leighton Holdings increased $1.01 to $22.50 and extended gains for the second day after the company expressed confidence that it will generate $1 billion in annual net income in five years. The company also reported a loss of $408.8 million.

Tabcorp increased 3 cents to $3.22 after the casino operator said net profit rose 14%.

James Hardie Industries increased 5 cents to $5.40 after the building products maker said quarterly profit declined 99%.