Australian Building Approvals Rise 7.8%, NAB Profit Falls 22%

Marcus Jacob
31 Oct, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher after residential building approvals increased 7.8% in September. National Australian Bank reported full year revenues increased 5.2% and net income dropped 22% to $4.08 billion on losses and restructuring charges linked to UK operations.

[R]7:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher after residential building approvals increased 7.8% in September. National Australian Bank reported full year revenues increased 5.2% and net income dropped 22% to $4.08 billion on losses and restructuring charges linked to UK operations.[/R]

Australian stocks closed higher after residential building approvals increased 7.8% in September and total credit available to private sector rose 0.3% in the month.

Residential building approvals increased 7.8% in September from August and gained surged 12.4% from a year ago month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The ASX 200 index climbed 31.30 or 0.7% to 4,485.70 and the broader All Ordinaries jumped 29.67 to 4,535.36. For the month end The ASX 200 index advanced 2.9%.

Australian dollar closed to $1.0337.

In trading, 1.89 billion shares changed hands worth $1.41 billion and 559 stocks closed higher, 402 declined and 335 were unchanged.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited gained 28 cents to $34.25 and Rio Tinto Limited increased 8 cents to $56.94. Lynas Corporation Limited up 1.5 cents to 73 cents and Iluka Resources advanced 11 cents to $9.92.

Fortescue Metals slid 2 cents to $4.08.

Mirabela Nickel lowered 1 cent to 45 cents and Newcrest Mining increased 27 cents to $26.43. Kingsgate gained 8 cents to $5.49 and Whitehaven Coal added 5 cents to $3.05.

Transfield Services up 2 cents at $1.59, engineering contractors WorleyParsons declined 21 cents to $24.67 and Monadelphous Group jumped 40 cents to $21.10.

Oil Search Limited increased 4 cents to $7.44 and Santos Limited gained 3 cents to $11.51 and Woodside Petroleum increased 10 cents to $34.40.

Origin Energy Limited added 1 cent to $11.36.

Seven West Media up 1 cent to $1.22 and News Corp, the controversial global entertainment group, increased 6 cents to $23.66.

Harvey Norman Holdings closed unchanged at $1.90, Woolworths gained 15 cents to $29.41 and Kathmandu closed unchanged at $1.42.

David Jones Limited increased 6 cents to $2.67 and Wesfarmers climbed 46 cents to $34.77. Breville Group increased 13 cents to $5.98. Billabong International Limited slid 0.5 cents to 88.5 cents.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia jumped 44 cents to $57.75, Bank of Queensland added 2 cents to $7.58 and ANZ increased 7 cents to $25.45.

National Australia Bank, the largest Australian lender by assets said full-year net profit fell 22% to $4.08 billion on restructuring charges and losses in the UK operations. Bad debt provisions increased 44% to $2.6 billion on weak lending conditions in the UK and cooling Australian economy.

In the year to September 30, the financial results include the bad debt provision of $250 million for the UK operations and restructuring charges. Chief executive Cameron Clyne said outlook for bad debt is likely to deteriorate in the current fiscal year.

For the year, the revenues increased 5.2% to $17.7 billion from a year ago and cash return on equity decreased 100 basis points to 14.2% and Tier 1 capital ratio increased 57 basis points to 10.27%.

In the year, the company also eliminated 1,309 positions to 43,336 full time equivalent employees.

NAB declared final dividend of 90 cents a share, up from 88 cents a share a year ago. The bank earlier reported interim dividend of 90 cents a share.

Macquarie Group climbed 70 cents to $31.90 and Perpetual Limited advanced 68 cents to $27.94. National Australia Bank closed down 9 cents. Westpac gained 17 cents to close at $25.51.

Toll Holdings jumped 15 cents to $4.44, Leighton dropped 40 cents to $17.90 and property developer Mirvac Group closed unchanged at $1.50. Westfield Group closed unchanged at $10.66.

Qantas slid 1 cent to $1.33, Flight Centre slipped 4 cents to $26.60 and Virgin Australia gained 0.5 cents to 49 cents.

QR National increased 8 cents to $3.74 and Telstra added 3 cents to $4.14 and chief executive David Thodey said that its subsidiary Foxtel can pursue telecom and broadband service business if it helps add new subscribers.

Tabb Corp decreased 1 cent to $2.84 and the former chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper was elected to the board of the casino and keno operator.