Australian Stocks, Dollar Rebound; BHP Billiton Iron Ore Shipments Rise 11%

Marcus Jacob
19 Oct, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher on the hopes that the euro zone rescue fund will be increased in size. BHP Billiton said its iron ore shipments increased 11% in the quarter and impacts of the floods will linger till the end of the year.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher on the hopes that the euro zone rescue fund will be increased in size. BHP Billiton said its iron ore shipments increased 11% in the quarter and impacts of the floods will linger till the end of the year.[/R]

Australian index gained following a rally in New York and on the hopes that the euro zone leaders are close to lifting the rescue fund size to at least 1 trillion euros.

The conflicting reports on the size of the increase in the European Financial Stability Facility only showed the division among 17-member nations. Germany strongly favors in keeping the fund size below 1 trillion euros and France is looking to increase it to 2 trillion euros.

The ASX 200 index increased 26.8 or 0.64% to 4,213.7 and All Ordinaries index rose 25.3 or 0.6% to 4,274.80.

The Australian dollar added 0.5% to US$1.0316.

Trading volume decreased to 1.67 billion shares worth $4.6 billion with 578 stocks trading higher, 436 declined and 305 closed unchanged.

BHP Iron Ore Shipments Rise

BHP Billiton said its iron ore shipment increased 11% in the quarter to September from the previous quarter and surged 24% from a year ago. The iron ore shipments in the quarter were 39.6 million tons.

Petroleum products shipments increased 19% from the previous quarter to 41.4 million barrels of equivalent, largely on the acquisition of Petrohawk Energy and Chesapeake Energy controlled shale gas fields.

Thermal coal production increased 8% from the previous quarter and metallurgical coal volumes increased 17% from a year ago and declined 10% from the previous quarter.

Stock Movers

Telstra Corporation Limited increased 5 cents to $3.18 after 99% shareholders approved the handover of fixed line monopoly to NBN for $11 billion as trading volume surged 47.4 million shares.

The company also said it will hold its dividend at 28 cents a share in the current and the next fiscal year.

BHP Billiton Ltd closed flat at $36.40 on the worries that iron ore prices may fall further and Rio Tinto Ltd fell $1.17 to $66.08 after the company approved US$1.33 billion of capital for the iron ore project in Guinea.

Lynas Corp fell 12 cents to $1.09 on a sharp increase in trading volume to 72 million shares after reports that the company has not won the license to import rare earth in Malaysia.

Fortescue Metals decreased 12 cents to $4.52 after spot price of iron ore softened to US$152 a ton and Brazil based Vale said it is prepared to offer two tier prices for its shipments.

Linc Energy fell 9 cents to $2.04 and Leighton Holdings decreased 32 cents to $20.55.

Oil Search Limited decreased 5 cents to $5.97, Santos Limited fell 32 cents to $12.22 and Woodside Petroleum declined 39 cents to $34.98.

Cochlear Limited gained $2.91 to $56.45 after the maker of bionic ears increased its dividend to $1.20 a share for the year from $1.05 a share.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia closed up $0.56 to $48.01 and National Australia Bank increased 37 cents to $24.60. ANZ edged up $0.23 to $21.30. Westpac added $0.27 to $21.85.

David Jones Limited closed up 4 cents to $3.01 and Wesfarmers Limited increased $0.18 to $32.18.

Woolworths Limited increased 8 cents to $24.53 and James Hardie Industries SE increased 18 cents to $5.76. Treasury Wine Estate rose 13 cent to $3.90.

Qantas Airways Ltd increased 2 cents to $1.49 after the company struggles to maintain its regular schedule as more workers threaten to join engineers’ strike. Crude oil price also surged more than 3% in New York trading close to $88 a barrel.