Australian Insolvencies Surge to Record; Dollar in 5-Week Slump

Marcus Jacob
05 Apr, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks fell on the last day of trading this week and the dollar eased for the fifth week in a row. Gold and copper decreased more than 2%. The number of businesses closing rose to a record high in February.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Australian stocks fell on the last day of trading this week and the dollar eased for the fifth week in a row. Gold and copper decreased more than 2%. The number of businesses closing rose to a record high in February.[/R]

Australian stocks traded lower on the weak international sentiment and the sharp fall in commodities prices. The dollar declined for the fifth week in a row in a short week ahead of Friday’s holiday.

The ASX 200 index edged down 14.10 to 4,319.80 and All Ordinaries index decreased 16.61 to 4,402.34. For the week, the ASX index fell 0.35% and the dollar eased nearly 1% as the prospect lower interest rate and falling commodities prices hurt the sentiment.

In stock trading turnover declined to 1.93 billion shares and worth $4.05 billion from 2.1 billion shares and worth $4.5 billion on Wednesday.

Of shares traded, 427 stocks closed higher, 592 declined and 394 were unchanged.

Record Insolvencies in February

Australia’s two-speed economy was evident in the latest data released by Taylor Woodings. The number of businesses closing down rose to a record high of 1,123 in February from 518 in January,

Insolvencies soared 31% from a year ago month and the latest collapse in businesses is driven by the difficulties in retail, tourism and real estate development sectors.

Business closures jumped 122% in Queensland and soared 273% in Western Australia as the boom in mining sector lift labor and operating costs.

Stock Movers

Miners advanced in the session bucking the trend in the general market and BHP Billiton decreased 30 cents to $34.44 and Rio Tinto tumbled $1.10 to $65.29.

Lynas Corporation Limited closed down 1 cent to $1.05 and Iluka Resources decreased 23 cents to $17.78.

Newcrest Mining declined 45 cents to $28.05 and Kingsgate slipped 13 cents to $5.92.

Oil Search Limited rose 9 cents to $7.01. Woodside Petroleum increased 18 cents to $35.18 and Santos Limited decreased 15 cents to $14.18. Oil Search gained 9 cents to $7.01.

David Jones Limited fell 1 cent to $2.26, Harvey Norman Holdings closed down 10 cents to $1.86 and Woolworths decreased 9 cent to $25.70. Myer rose 3 cent to $2.25 and Kathmandu closed up 1 cent at $1.32.

Billabong International Limited unchanged to $2.86.

Westpac Banking Corporation decreased 7 cents to $22.05 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased 16 cents to close at $50.06. Bank of Queensland dropped 14 cents to $6.79.

Macquarie Group declined 32 cents to $28.71.

Insurance Australia Group gained 4 cents to $3.51 after completed the purchase of New Zealand based AMI Insurance for NZ$380 million.

Real estate developers closed mixed Westfield Group closed up 1 cent to $8.85 and Stockland fell 1 cent to $2.99.

Qantas closed down 4 cents to $1.67, Virgin Australia fell 0.005 cents to 42 cents and Flight Centre dropped 24 cents to $21.36.

QR National fell 3 cents to $3.62.