Queensland Outlook Lowered, Australian to Spend $16 B in Holiday Shopping

Marcus Jacob
26 Nov, 2012
New York City

Australian benchmark index closed higher and the dollar edged up. Australians are expected to spend $16 billion during the holiday season. Moody

[R]7:30 PM Sydney – Australian benchmark index closed higher and the dollar edged up. Australians are expected to spend $16 billion during the holiday season. Moody’s lowered its outlook on credit rating of Queensland.[/R]

The benchmark ASX 200 index closed marginally higher after trading in a tight range and the dollar gained a fraction.

The ASX 200 index increased 11.20 to 4,424.20 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 12.02 to 4,443.55.

Australian dollar inched higher to $1.046.

Investors were in a holding pattern ahead of the outcome of the meeting of ministers to determine the fate of Greek debt and whether to release the next tranche of bailout funds.

The deal among lenders is likely to limit the role of the International Monetary Fund as the lending agency believes that the cash-strapped nation still has too much debt.

A rating agency, Moody’s lowered its view on Queensland to AA1 from stable to negative and cited weakening financial performance and high level of debt racked up in the last five years.

Queensland lost its top credit rating of AAA in 2009.

Australians are expected to spend $16.2 billion during the Christmas holiday season, according to a Commonwealth Bank survey of more than 1,000 retailers. Also, the survey indicated that 70% of consumers are expected to buy gifts at local retail stores and not online.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited climbed 26 cents to $34.01 and Rio Tinto Limited added 3 cents to $57.21.

Lynas Corporation Limited sipped 1.5 cents to 70.5 cents, Iluka Resources slid 1 cent to $7.87 and Fortescue Metals gained 12 cents to $3.80.

Mirabela Nickel increased 1 cent to 43.5 cents and Newcrest Mining jumped 40 cents to $25.75. Kingsgate advanced 15 cents to $4.74 and Whitehaven Coal up 5 cents to $2.86.

Transfield Services gained 8 cent to $1.66 and engineering contractors WorleyParsons slumped 11 cents to $24.44.

Monadelphous Group climbed 48 cents to $21.80.

Oil Search Limited added 3 cents to $7.01 and Santos Limited jumped 16 cents to $11.10.

Woodside Petroleum increased 18 cents to $33.82 and Origin Energy Limited gained 4 cents to $10.60.

Seven West Media advanced 7 cents to $1.64. Harvey Norman Holdings up 2 cents to $1.85.

Woolworths decreased 11 cents to $28.55 and Kathmandu added 2 cents to $1.44.

David Jones Limited down 1 cent to $2.42 and Wesfarmers increased 9 cents to $35.02. Breville Group gained 14 cents to $5.86.

Billabong International Limited added 2 cents to 96 cents.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia climbed 20 cents to $59.15 and Bank of Queensland increased 6 cents to $6.95 and ANZ slid 3 cents to $23.57.

Macquarie Group gained 8 cents to $31.15 and Perpetual Limited jumped 37 cents to $30.36. National Australia Bank added 7 cents to $23.70. Westpac dropped 18 cents to $24.76.

Toll Holdings up 4 cents to $4.39, Leighton climbed 37 cents to $17.25 and property developer Mirvac Group added 1 cent to $1.48.

Westfield Group slid 2 cents to $10.42.

Qantas gained 3 cents to $1.31, Flight Centre down 3 cents to $26.55 and Virgin Australia up 1 cent to 45.5 cents.

QR National closed unchanged at $3.57 and Telstra slipped 5 cents to $4.22.