Miners Lower in Australia; Woolworths Net Falls 16%

Marcus Jacob
01 Mar, 2012
New York City

Australian indexes declined 1% after copper and gold prices declined more than 4% in international trading. Woolworths reported the sharpest fall in earnings in two decades and the smallest profit in three years.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian indexes declined 1% after copper and gold prices declined more than 4% in international trading. Woolworths reported the sharpest fall in earnings in two decades and the smallest profit in three years.[/R]

Australian stocks were on the decline after copper and gold eased sharply in New York trading. The 1% decline in two popular indexes reflected the fall in commodities and energy prices.

The ASX 200 index closed lower 42.9 to 4,255.6 and All Ordinaries index fell 42.1 to 4,346.

The Australian dollar edged lower to close at $1.067.

In trading, turnover eased to 2.03 billion shares worth $4.5 billion and 385 stocks increased, 665 decreased and 394 were unchanged.

Woolworths reported first-half profit declined 16% to $966.9 million after taking a charge of $300 million for the restructuring of Dick Smith. The retailer also increased interim dividend by 3.5% to 59 cents a share.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd decreased 55 cents to $35.55, Rio Tinto Ltd fell $1.20 to $66.25 and Fortescue Metals Group fell 5 cents to $5.53.

Lynas Corporation Limited eased 4 cents to $1.15 and Iluka Resources closed unchanged at $16.70. Newcrest Mining dropped 94 cents to $32.55.

Oil Search Limited increased 18 cent to $7.14, Santos Limited fell 53 cents at $13.89 and Woodside Petroleum decreased 79 cents to $36.45.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia decreased 37 cents to $49.06, Westpac declined 20 cents to $20.70 and NAB eased 9 cents to $23.58. ANZ decreased 26 cents to $21.69.

David Jones Limited increased 12 cents to $2.82 and Harvey Norman Holdings closed down 5 cents to $2.02.

Woolworths decreased 1 cent to $25.30 and the company said it plans to invest $2.2 billion this year in opening 14 new supermarkets in the second half after opening 25 new stores in the first half. The retailer also plans to open 8 new hardware stores in the rest of the year.

Qantas Airways Ltd closed down 1 cent to $1.72, Virgin Australia closed up 1.5 cent to 44 cents and Flight Centre decreased 25 cents to $22.09.

QR National closed down 3 cents to $3.88.