Australian Stocks Edge Lower; Sundance Resources, Cameroon Sign a Deal

Marcus Jacob
27 Apr, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Australian edged lower after international worries overshadowed domestic news. Sundance Resources gained after it signed a deal with Cameroon government. The troubled printer PMP may pursue a highly conditional offer.

[R]8:00 PM Sydney – Stocks in Australian edged lower after international worries overshadowed domestic news. Sundance Resources gained after it signed a deal with Cameroon government. The troubled printer PMP may pursue a highly conditional offer.[/R]

The ASX 200 index decreased 13.10 to 4,362.10 and All Ordinaries index slipped 11.55 to 4,433.41. For the week, the ASX index decreased 0.1% and gained 7.5% in the year at the end of the week.

Stock Movers

PMP stock more than doubled to 62 cents after the printer confirmed that it received highly conditional offer to acquire the company between 68 cents and 78 cents.

Seven West Media fell 1% or 3 cents to $2.88 and extended losses after it lowered its earnings outlook.

BHP Billiton closed down 21 cents to $34.89 and Rio Tinto dropped 73 cents to $65.43.

Lynas Corporation Limited closed unchanged at $1.11 and Iluka Resources declined 40 cents to $17.08.

Sundance Resources increased 1.1% after the mining company signed a deal with Cameroon government to explore a mine for non-iron projects.

Newcrest Mining advanced 14 cents to $25.71 and Kingsgate decreased 11 cents to $6.04.

Oil Search Limited slipped 13 cents to $7.39. Woodside Petroleum decreased 14 cents to $34.43 and Santos Limited rose 3 cents to $13.98.

Spotless asked for an extension of the trading halt as the company gets ready to make an announcement about its takeover negotiation with Pacific Equity Partners.

David Jones Limited added 2 cents to $2.48, Harvey Norman Holdings closed down 5 cents at $2.02 and Woolworths fell 5 cents to $25.77. Myer slumped 7 cents to $2.32 and Kathmandu edged down 1 cent to $1.34.

Billabong International Limited unchanged to $2.70.

Westpac Banking Corporation decreased 8 cents to $22.59 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia closed down 7 cents at $51.59. Bank of Queensland gained 8 cents to $7.56. ANZ dropped 7 cents to $23.66.

Macquarie Group surged 84 cents to $29.27 after the company said it will buyback stocks and reported less than expected fall of 23% in earnings in the second half.

Stockland rose 2 cents to $3.07.

Telstra unchanged to $3.51 and closed at the highest level since August of 2009 and after hitting the low in December 2010.

Qantas fell 2 cents to $1.61, Virgin Australia unchanged to 38 cents and Flight Centre dropped 23 cents to $20.56.

QR National decreased 4 cents to $3.63.