Australian Markets and Dollar Extend Gains

Marcus Jacob
19 Sep, 2012
New York City

Australian markets closed higher following a rally in Asian markets after Bank of Japan expanded asset purchase program. Resource and financial stocks traded higher. The Australian dollar gained against yen.

[R]7:30 PM Sydney – Australian markets closed higher following a rally in Asian markets after Bank of Japan expanded asset purchase program. Resource and financial stocks traded higher. The Australian dollar gained against yen.[/R]

Financial indexes in Australia followed higher markets in Asia after Bank of Japan expanded asset purchase program by 10 trillion yen.

The ASX 200 index increased 23.70 or 0.5% to 4,418.40 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 22.53 to 4,440.36.

Australian dollar closed at $1.043 and increased to 82.6 yen and raised the prospect of another rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia at the next meeting in October.

Banks and resource sector stocks gained after the surprise move by the Bank of Japan to pump additional money into the economy. The central bank expanded asset purchase to 80 trillion yen and held its target rate at 0.1%.

Stock Movers

Fortescue Metals surged 5.4% or 19 cents to $3.69 after the iron ore miner managed to restructure debt with fewer financial covenant.

BHP Billiton Limited increased 26 cents to $34.22 and, Rio Tinto Limited gained 55 cents to $57.80. Lynas Corporation Limited added 0.5 cents to 89.5 cents and Iluka Resources advanced 35 cents to $11.25.

Mirabela Nickel gained 1.3% to 37.5 cents and Newcrest Mining climbed 91 cents to $29.96. Kingsgate soared 35 cents or 6.3% to $5.87 and Whitehaven Coal added 5 cents to $3.09.

Transfield Services up 1 cent to $1.77; engineering contractors WorleyParsons increased 6 cents to $27.31 and Monadelphous Group down 2 cents to $19.38.

Oil Search Limited added 1 cent to $7.73 and Santos Limited slipped 13 cents to $11.81 and Woodside Petroleum gained 10 cents to $34.70. Sundance Energy closed unchanged at 75 cent.

Seven West Media up 1 cent to $1.25, Ten Network closed unchanged at 35 cents and Fairfax Media slid 0.5 cents to 45.5 cents and the controversial News Corp. decreased 9 cents to $23.71.

Harvey Norman Holdings closed unchanged at $2, Woolworths jumped 23 cents to $28.73 and Kathmandu lowered 2 cents to $1.37.

David Jones Limited down 1 cent to $2.26 and Wesfarmers climbed 41 cents to $34.83. Billabong International Limited closed unchanged at $1.45. Breville Group gained 3 cents to $5.29.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia increased 6 cents to $55.35 and Bank of Queensland slid 2 cents to $7.75. ANZ gained 16 cents to $24.55. National Australia Bank lowered 3 cents to $25.53 and Westpac Banking Corporation advanced 15 cents at $24.50.

Macquarie Group increased 21 cents to $29.33 and Perpetual Limited slumped 21 cents to $27.11.

Toll Holdings slid 4 cents to $4.49, Leighton decreased 9 cents to $16.65, and property developer Mirvac Group lowered 2 cents to $1.41.

Qantas closed unchanged at $1.25; Flight Centre down 1 cent to $23.90 and Virgin Australia added 0.5 cents to 42.5 cents.

QR National gained 3 cents to $3.45 and Telstra edged up 2 cents to $3.82.