Australian Stocks and Dollar Rebound with Asian Markets

Marcus Jacob
25 Mar, 2013
New York City

Australian stocks rebounded and participated in Asia-wide rally after Cyprus struck a deal with European lenders for an emergency bailout that will avoid taxing deposits that are insured by the European Union.

[R]6:30 PM Sydney – Australian stocks rebounded and participated in Asia-wide rally after Cyprus struck a deal with European lenders for an emergency bailout that will avoid taxing deposits that are insured by the European Union.[/R]

Australian stocks participated in an Asian rally after Cyprus struck a late night deal with European lenders and regulators.

The new agreement will cancel the controversial the tax on bank deposits but the government agreed to close down its second largest bank.

According to the plan, approved by the euro zone finance ministers, Popular Bank of Cyprus will be closed down and all deposits less than 100,000 euros will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.

All deposits above 100,000 euro will be frozen and are not guaranteed under the European Union law will be taxed to raise capital as a part of 10 billion euro bailout.

The ASX 200 index gained 22.90 or 0.5% to 4,990.20 and the broader All Ordinaries increased 20.73 to 5,001.51.

Australian dollar traded near one-month high and closed at $1.044.

Stock Movers

Leighton gained 87 cents to $21.07 and the company appointed Bob Humphris as the new chairman of the company after former chairman Stephen Johns and two other directors including former RBA governor Ian Macfarlane stepped down.

Funtastic closed unchanged after it reported a 68% jump in six-month profit.

Rio Tinto rose 33 cents to $58.25 and BHP fell 3 cents to $33.40. Fortescue Metals Group gained 7 cents to $3.88.

Woodside Petroleum slumped 8 cents to $36.86 and Santos jumped 24 cents to $12.70.

Newcrest Mining up 5 cents to $22.35, Kingsgate fell 5 cents to $4.09 and Whitehaven Coal slid 2 cents to $2.17.

David Jones Limited closed unchanged at $3.02 and Breville Group jumped 15 cents to $5.77. Billabong rose 1 cent to 76 cents and Globe International closed unchanged at 40 cents.

Woolworths decreased 15 cents to $33.88. Kathmandu rose 1 cent to $1.97.

Toll Holdings added 2 cents to $5.71, Leighton soared 87 or 4.3% to $21.07 and Mirvac Group fell 3 cents to $1.60. Lend Lease increased 17 cents to $9.92.

Westpac rose 51 cents to $31.01, Commonwealth up 0.5% to $69 and National Australia Bank gained 0.7% to $30.85 and ANZ added 28 cents to $28.83.

Macquarie Group climbed 77 cents to $36.22 and Wesfarmers fell 9 cents to $40.54.