Australian Services Expands in January

Marcus Jacob
03 Feb, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks edged lower and declined in the week for the first time this year. Commodities traded lower. The service sector index expanded at the fastest pace in five months in January. Magma Metals soared after it received a takeover bid from Panoramic Resources.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks edged lower and declined in the week for the first time this year. Commodities traded lower. The service sector index expanded at the fastest pace in five months in January. Magma Metals soared after it received a takeover bid from Panoramic Resources.[/R]

Australian stocks traded lower and registered a weekly loss for the first time in the year. Commodities traded lower and resources and banks were among the decliners.

The ASX 200 index declined 18 or 0.4% to 4,249.8 and All Ordinaries index slipped 13.1 or 0.3% to 4,320.1. For the week, the ASX index declined 0.8%.

The Australian dollar edged up above $1.06.

A private survey indicated a sustained rise in service sector. The Australian Industry Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia said its service sector index increased 2.9 points to 51.90 in January.

The index increased at the fastest pace in five months in January.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd rose 2 cents to $37.60 and Rio Tinto Ltd closed up 22 cents to $70.50 on the talks that Switzerland based Glencore and London listed Xstrata are in merger talks that lead to the largest merger in the commodities industry.

Fortescue Metals Group increased 6 cents to $5.07, Lynas Corporation Limited closed lower 16 cent at $1.43 and Iluka Resources decreased 56 cents to $17.30. Newcrest Mining added 33 cents to $34.25.

Oil Search Limited traded up 3 cents to $6.54, Santos Limited closed up 2 cents at $13.68 and Woodside Petroleum decreased 6 cents to $34.09.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia decreased 9 cents to $50.57 and ANZ fell 9 cents to $21.11 and Westpac inched lower 13 cents to $20.79. National Australia Bank fell 14 cents to $23.75.

David Jones Limited decreased 7 cents to $2.53 and Harvey Norman Holdings closed down 1 cent to $2.03. Wesfarmers Limited fell 43 cents to $29.47.

Qantas Airways Ltd added 1 cent to $1.61, Virgin Australia gained 0.5 cent to 34.5 cents and Flight Centre decreased 18 cents to $19.52.

QR National closed up 1 cent to $3.81.