Australian Retail Sales Ease 0.1%, New Home Sales Rise 4.7%

Marcus Jacob
09 Jan, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks closed higher after international investors stepped up buying. New home sales increased for the second month in November and retail sales declined in the month.

[R]6:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks closed higher after international investors stepped up buying. New home sales increased for the second month in November and retail sales declined in the month.[/R]

Stocks in Sydney traded higher as international investors increased exposure to Australian stocks and iron ore prices rose to a new 15-month high.

New home sales increased for the second month in a row in November by 4.7%, according to the latest data released by the Housing Industry Association.

Single family home sales increased 7.7% and multi-family home sales dropped 6.9%.

The iron ore prices in the spot market increased to $158.50 a ton, a new 15-month high and supported the strength in the dollar. The price has recovered from the low of $86.70 a ton in September as Chinese steel mills step up demand.

The price of iron ore are closely watched by traders in foreign exchange market and analysts are expecting the price to fall back to the lows last seen in September as new supply hit the market towards the end of the year.

The ASX 200 index increased 17.90 to 4,708.10 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 17.75 to 4,730.07.

Australian dollar advanced to $1.0512.

In trading, stock turnover increased to 1.49 billion shares worth $3.5 billion and 505 stocks closed higher, 399 declined and 395 were unchanged.

Retail Sales Fall in November

Seasonally adjusted retail sales declined 0.1% in November after flat sales in October, according to the latest data released by the statistics bureau.

Retail sales declined to $21.533 billion and the October sales were lowered to $21.55 billion.

Separately, National Australia Bank reported yesterday, online retail sales index increased by 241 points in November. In a year to November, consumers spent $12.6 billion online or totaling 5.7% of total retail sales.

Stock Movers

BHP Billiton Limited gained 8 cents to $37.58 and Rio Tinto Limited increased 21 cents to $66.81. Fortescue Metals closed unchanged at to $4.74.

Newcrest Mining slipped 18 cents to $22.02. Kingsgate lowered 5 cents to $4.60 and Whitehaven Coal up 1 cent to $3.50.

Tiger Resources soared 7.5^ after the copper miner said a feasibility study showed higher margin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Transfield Services closed unchanged at $1.91 and engineering contractor WorleyParsons jumped 20 cents to $24.41. Monadelphous Group increased 18 cents to $24.70 and Downer EDI slid 2 cents to $4.05.

Lend Lease climbed 11 cents to $9.64.

Oil Search Limited slumped 7 cents to $7.04 and Santos Limited up 1 cent to $11.34.

Woodside Petroleum dropped 13 cents to $34.80 and Origin Energy Limited declined 30 cents to $11.73.

Woolworths advanced 43 cents to $29.87 and Kathmandu jumped 6 cents to $1.68.

David Jones Limited down 1 cent to $2.39 and Wesfarmers increased 7 cents to $36.90. Breville Group climbed 24 cents to $6.39.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 3 cents to $61.40 and Bank of Queensland up 1 cent to $7.56 and ANZ slumped 15 cents to $25.02. National Australia Bank increased 26 cents to $25.35. Westpac jumped 23 cents to $26.51.

Toll Holdings declined 14 cents to $4.87, Leighton slipped 4 cents to $18.96 and property developer Mirvac Group gained 5 cents to $1.52.

Westfield Group increased 18 cent to $10.68.