Australian Stocks in 4-day Decline; ANZ Falls, News Corp Up

Marcus Jacob
03 Nov, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks eased for the fourth day in a row. News Corp gained after it reported better than expected earnings but ANZ Group fell 2% on the weak second half earnings. Building products maker Boral declined after it issued a cautious outlook.

[R]6:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks eased for the fourth day in a row. News Corp gained after it reported better than expected earnings but ANZ Group fell 2% on the weak second half earnings. Building products maker Boral declined after it issued a cautious outlook.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney were on the defensive for the fourth day in a row after leaders in the euro zone struggled to decide the fate of Greek bailout.

However, trading sentiment was lifted after Chinese policy makers showed a willingness to increase liquidity in the banking system.

The ASX 200 index decreased 12.70 or 0.2% to 4,171.90 and All Ordinaries index fell 0.3% or 13.70 to 4,237.6.

The Australian dollar rose 0.18% to US$1.036.

In trading, turnover declined to 1.65 billion shares worth $4.25 billion and 380 stocks increased, 545 decreased and 357 were unchanged.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd closed down 1 cent to $36.54 and Rio Tinto Ltd increased $0.05 to $66.45.

Fortescue Metals Group decreased 14 cents to $4.71, Lynas Corporation Limited closed up 1 cent to $1.15 and Iluka Resources rose 61 cents to $16.13.

OneSteel Ltd dropped 4 cents to 94.5 cents after the company said fiscal first half earnings are expected to be hurt on the stronger dollar.

Boral Ltd declined 8 cents to $3.60 after the building materials supplier said its current fiscal year earnings will be below expectations.

Oil Search Limited decreased 2 cents to $6.38, Santos Limited rose 13 cents to $12.68 and Woodside Petroleum rose 17 cents to $36.20.

Cochlear Limited fell $0.63 to $53.89.

News Corp increased 70 cents to $17.21 after the media conglomerate reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates and maintained its fiscal year outlook and said a “great start” in the current year.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia closed down 21 cents to $48.01 and National Australia Bank decreased 24 cents to $24.67. ANZ edged down 41 to $20.49. Westpac fell 1 cent to $21.51.

ANZ Banking Group Ltd said fiscal second half earnings were below expectations at $2.69 billion and full-year earnings declined 19% to $5.36 billion.

Perpetual Ltd decreased 56 cents to $20.74 after the money manager said its first half net income will be between $26 million and $31 million.

Henderson Group plc decreased 3 cents to $1.76 after the UK based money manager also listed in Australia said assets under management at the end of September to 65.4 billion pounds from 74.4 billion pounds as of June.

David Jones Limited closed down 5 cents to $3.17 and Wesfarmers Limited decreased 48 cent to $31.40.

Woolworths Limited increased 52 cent to $23.91 and James Hardie Industries SE increased 7 cents to $5.88. The competition regulator said it might be difficult to prove that Woolworths abuse its market dominance by selling more store brand items.

Qantas Airways Ltd closed unchanged at $1.58, Virgin Blue closed up 0.005 cent at 37.5 cents but Flight Centre declined 18 cents to $19.07.

Virgin Blue estimated that will increase its share of corporate passengers faster than earlier planned after Qantas grounded all its flights over the weekend for two days.