Australian Index in Yearly Fall of 14%; BHP Down 23%, Rio Drops 30%

Marcus Jacob
29 Dec, 2011
New York City

Australian stocks edged lower in thin trading as metals and oil declined on the renewed jitters in international markets. Gold fell to a 3-month low. The Australian benchmark index declined 14% in the year and second yearly loss in a row and for the year BHP declined 23% and Rio Tinto dropped 30%.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged lower in thin trading as metals and oil declined on the renewed jitters in international markets. Gold fell to a 3-month low. The Australian benchmark index declined 14% in the year and second yearly loss in a row and for the year BHP declined 23% and Rio Tinto dropped 30%.[/R]

Miners and banks were under pressure for the second day in a row on the renewed jitters about the state of the international economy ahead of the final bond auction in Italy.

Metals and oil declined after gold fell to a 3-month low and oil and copper prices eased on the worries that the demand in Europe will be lower than expected in the first quarter of next year.

The ASX 200 index closed down 0.4% or 17.7 to 4,071.1 and All Ordinaries index decreased 18.6 or 0.4% to 4,123.1. For the year the benchmark index is down 14% and its second yearly decline in a row since 1992 according to record kept by ticker.com.

Trading volume declined for the second day with most investors away from trading.

The Australian dollar edged lower 0.3% and closed at US$1.018.

Stock Movers

KBL Mining soared 17% to 27 cents after China controlled Guangdong Guangxin Mining Resource Group agreed to take 15% stake in the company and purchase 25% stake in its Mineral Hill mine with gold and copper.

BHP Billiton Ltd fell 7 cents to $34.50 and Rio Tinto Ltd decreased $0.22 to $60.30.

Fortescue Metals Group decreased 9 cents to $4.26, Lynas Corporation Limited closed down 6 cent to $1.07 and Iluka Resources added $0.10 to $15.50.

Moly Mines declined 6% to 31.5 cents after the company was forced to cut its operation in Western Australia after its Chinese investor halted funding as molybdenum prices fell.

Oil Search Limited traded down 5 cents to $6.26, Santos Limited added 4 cents to $12.32 and Woodside Petroleum decreased $0.24 cents to $30.99.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased 2 cents to $49.33 and National Australia Bank rose 9 cents to $23.52. ANZ edged down 8 cents to $20.65. Westpac inched higher 2 cents to $20.15.

Cochlear rose $0.15 to $62.45 and the stocks traded at a three month high.

David Jones Limited was unchanged at $2.38 and Wesfarmers Limited decreased 25 cent to $29.77. Harvey Norman Holdings closed up 1 cent to $1.82.

Woolworths Limited closed down 8 cents to $25.20 and JB Hi-Fi Limited decreased $0.15 to $11.20.

Billabong International Ltd fell 2 cents to $1.77 and Kathmandu eased 1 cent to $1.31.

Qantas Airways Ltd closed down 2 cents to $1.46, Virgin Australia closed unchanged at 35.5 cents and Flight Centre declined $0.31 to $16.39.

QBE Insurance Group Limited increased 2 cents to $13.05 and QR National added 2 cents to $3.42.