Broad Rally Lifts Australian Indexes; Home Buyers Resist Purchase

Marcus Jacob
13 Mar, 2012
New York City

Australian stock indexes gained after struggling for three days in a row. Loans issued to the home buyers in January declined 2.3% as new home buyers stay away from making purchase commitment.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian stock indexes gained after struggling for three days in a row. Loans issued to the home buyers in January declined 2.3% as new home buyers stay away from making purchase commitment.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney trading rebounded but caution prevailed in the afternoon trading. In a range bound trading, resources linked stocks and banks led the gainers. Housing loans were also weaker than expected in January.

The ASX 200 index increased 50.9 to 4,247.60 and All Ordinaries index gained 48.3 to 4,336.51.

In trading, 2.05 billion shares changed hands worth $4.36 billion shares with 410 stocks declining, 615 increasing and 369 closed unchanged.

Australian Bureau of Statistics said loan approvals for investment housing in January declined seasonally adjusted 7.1% and new loans for owner occupied homes fell 6% from a year ago in the moth.

Total value of all loans issued for the housing market decreased 2.3% after adjusting for seasonality to $20.73 billion after rising at a 2.1% rate in December.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Ltd increased 44 cents to $35.15, Rio Tinto Ltd increased 61 cents to $64.35 and Fortescue Metals Group fell 9 cents to $5.77.

Lynas Corporation Limited rose 5 cents to $1.22 and Iluka Resources closed down 10 cents to $16.55. Newcrest Mining increased 23 cents to $31.86.

Graincorp extended gains for the second day by 19 cents to $8.63 after the Swiss based Glencore International is reported to offer $5.2 billion for Canada based rival Viterra.

Oil Search Limited decreased 5 cents to $6.99, Santos Limited fell 8 cents at $14.40 and Woodside Petroleum rose 4 cents to $35.90.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased 53 cents to $48.37, Westpac closed up 23 cents to $20.74 and NAB increased 34 cents to $23.68. ANZ decreased 32 cents to $22.95.

David Jones Limited rose 6 cents to $2.79 and Harvey Norman Holdings closed down 1 cent to $1.91. Woolworths increased 30 cents to $25.42.

Qantas Airways Ltd closed up 8 cents to $1.73 and maintenance work contractor demonstrated outside the Brisbane airport demanding higher wages.

Virgin Australia closed up 1.5 cents to 45.5 cents and Flight Centre increased 7 cents to $21.50.

QR National closed up 3 cents to $3.90.