Miners Cut Jobs in Australia

Marcus Jacob
10 Sep, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks were directionless in trading after China reported monthly imports declined. Xstrata and BHP Billiton announce job cuts totaling 900 positions. Qantas made a case for its international alliance with Dubai based Emirates.

[R]9:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks were directionless in trading after China reported monthly imports declined. Xstrata and BHP Billiton announce job cuts totaling 900 positions. Qantas made a case for its international alliance with Dubai based Emirates.[/R]

Australian markets opened higher following the strong close in international markets on Friday and slipped in the negative territory by the early afternoon. Market indexes barely recovered in the final two hours of trading.

Resource sector stocks advanced after Xstrata and BHP announced more job cuts reflecting weak price environment and held out possibilities of more production slowdown in the future.

The ASX 200 index gained 8 to 4,333.80 and the broader All Ordinaries increased 9.21 to 4,358. For the week, the ASX 200 index inched up 0.2%.

The Australian dollar gained to US$1.0355 after miners cut jobs and China offered a stimulus package to build more infrastructure projects.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited climbed 48 cents to $32.46 and, Rio Tinto Limited jumped $2.32 to or 4.4% to $54.70 and Fortescue Metals Group surged 24 cents or 7.3% to $3.55.

BHP said it plans to close its Gregory Crinum open-pit mine in Queensland and eliminate 300 positions.

Separately, Xstrata Coal said it will cut 600 positions and warned that more cuts may be needed if business conditions do not improve.

Lynas Corporation Limited gained 1.5 cents to 83.5 cents and Iluka Resources increased 18 cents to $9.31.

The sharp jump in gold and silver prices lifted stocks of precious metal miners.

Newcrest Mining advanced $1.17 to $27.01 after gold added more than $10 an ounce in international markets. Kingsgate soared 25 cents or 5.6% to $4.75 and Whitehaven Coal slid 3 cents to $3.08.

Transfield Services up 2 cents to $1.79 billion; engineering contractors WorleyParsons declined 32 cents to $25.18 and Monadelphous Group dropped 59 cents to $19.91.

Oil Search Limited added 1 cent to $7.43 and Santos Limited slid 2 cents to $11.70 and Woodside Petroleum increased 22 cents to $35.02. Sundance Energy gained 3.5 cents to 75.5 cents.

Seven West Media down 1 cent to $1.32, Ten Network increased 1.5 cents to 38 cents and Fairfax Media closed unchanged at 43.5 cents.

News Corp. decreased 10 cents to $23.76 after Jamie Packer controlled Consolidated Media backed the revised takeover plan from the company.

Harvey Norman Holdings closed unchanged at $1.99, Woolworths plummeted $1.09 to $29.17 and Kathmandu added 1 cent to $1.38.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia decreased 12 cents to $54.48 and Bank of Queensland slipped 6 cents to $7.54. ANZ added 3 cents to $24.19. National Australia Bank down 5 cents to $25.01 and Westpac Banking Corporation decreased 10 cents at $23.60.

Macquarie Group climbed 59 cents to $28.40 and Perpetual Limited declined 40 cents to $26.34.

David Jones Limited lowered 3 cents $2.41 and Wesfarmers dropped 19 cents to $34.87. Billabong International Limited closed unchanged at $1.41. Breville Group added 3 cents to $5.43. Harvey Norman closed unchanged at $1.99.

Toll Holdings up 1 cent to $4.67, Leighton added 1 cent to $15.18 and property developer Mirvac Group slid 1 cent at $1.40.

Qantas edged up 2 cents to $1.28 after the airline made a case in front of the competition commission that it cannot operate its international operations without a partnership with Emirates because of the geography and high costs.

Flight Centre jumped 42 cents to $24.72 and Virgin Australia slid 1 cent to 41.5 cents.

QR National closed unchanged at $3.45 and Telstra closed unchanged at $3.81.