Australian Construction Decline Slow, News Corp Net Triples

Marcus Jacob
07 Nov, 2012
New York City

Australian stocks and the dollar closed higher after the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama. News Corp said quarterly net tripled from a year ago. Retailer Harvey Norman said quarterly sales declined 10% and profit fell 20%.

[R]7:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks and the dollar closed higher after the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama. News Corp said quarterly net tripled from a year ago. Retailer Harvey Norman said quarterly sales declined 10% and profit fell 20%.[/R]

Australian stocks and dollar closed higher after the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama and voters returned divided Congress.

The dollar traded higher after the U.S. election after the loss of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who had vowed to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and end the monetary easing and label China as a currency manipulator.

The ASX 200 index climbed 31.70 or 0.7% to 4,516.50 and the broader All Ordinaries advanced 30.42 to 4,534.17.

Australian dollar closed higher at $1.045.

Australian construction activity index increased to 35.8 in October from 30.9 in September, according to the latest data released by the housing association and construction industry.

Any reading below 50 indicates contraction.

The construction activities have been declining for 29 months in a row but the latest monthly decline was the slowest in seven months.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited increased 17 cent to $34.98 and Rio Tinto Limited jumped 50 cents to $60.

Lynas Corporation Limited added 1.5 cents to 72 cents and Iluka Resources slumped 30 cents to $9.55. Fortescue Metals gained 5 cents to $4.05.

Mirabela Nickel slid 1.5 cents to 43.5 cents and Newcrest Mining climbed 60 cents to $26.70. Kingsgate advanced 19 cents to $5.57 and Whitehaven Coal up 6 cents to $2.92.

Transfield Services down 1 cent to $1.57, engineering contractors WorleyParsons gained 10 cents to $24.70 and Monadelphous Group increased 11 cents to $20.80.

Oil Search Limited up 6 cents to $7.49 and Santos Limited added 1 cent to $11.36 and Woodside Petroleum gained 11 cents to $34.50.

Origin Energy Limited climbed 13 cent to $11.19.

Seven West Media closed unchanged at $1.12.

News Corp, the controversial global entertainment group, advanced 74 cents to $24.10 after the quarterly profit tripled to $2.16 billion from $715.5 million from a year ago.

Harvey Norman Holdings slipped 4 cents to $1.81 after quarterly sales dropped 10% and profit declined 20%.

Woolworths increased 8 cents to $28.90 and Kathmandu added 3 cents to $1.35.

David Jones Limited closed unchanged at $2.46 and Wesfarmers gained 7 cents to $34.36. Breville Group lowered 3 cents to $5.81. Billabong International Limited gained 2.5 cents to 87.5 cents.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia jumped 32 cents to $57.80, Bank of Queensland down 1 cent to $7.46 and ANZ increased 26 cents to $25.51.

Macquarie Group climbed 52 cents to $31.74 and Perpetual Limited advanced 28 cents to $29.26. National Australia Bank lowered 6 cents to $24.99. Westpac increased 34 cents to $25.86.

Toll Holdings up 2 cents to $4.34, Leighton added 3 cents to $17.53 and property developer Mirvac Group closed unchanged at $1.49.

Westfield Group slid 3 cents to $10.60.

Qantas up 1 cent to $1.30 and Flight Centre declined 37 cents to $27.11 and Virgin Australia gained 1.5 cents to 51 cents.

QR National closed unchanged at $3.68 and Telstra increased 7 cents to $4.14.