Australian Dollar at 11-Month Low, Gold Stocks Plunge

Marcus Jacob
16 May, 2013
New York City

Australian indexes closed lower after a weakness in resource stocks. Precious metal miners were in focus after gold fell below $1,400-mark. Australian dollar eased and extended plunge to 11-month low and the currency is down 10% from its high. Virgin Australia dives 17% on profit warning.

[R]5:00 PM Sydney – Australian indexes closed lower after a weakness in resource stocks. Precious metal miners were in focus after gold fell below $1,400-mark. Australian dollar eased and extended plunge to 11-month low and the currency is down 10% from its high. Virgin Australia dives 17% on profit warning.[/R]

Australian stocks traded lower after a weakness in precious metal prices and gold dropped below $1,400 per ounce in New York trading.

The ASX 200 index fell 26 or 0.5% to 5,165.70 and the broader All Ordinaries slipped 29.10 to 5,144.20.

Australian dollar declined to 98.33 cents against the U.S. dollar and in stock trading turnover climbed to 906 million worth $5.3 billion.

In the March, imports of goods rose 1% to $118 million to $20.02 billion in April 2013, according to the data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Consulting group Wood Mackenzie expects investment in resources sector to peak at $85 billion in 2013 and the oil and gas sector will account nearly 50% followed by iron ore with 25% and coal with 10%. .

Stocks in Review

Rio Tinto dropped $1.09 to $54.68 and BHP slipped 27 cents to $33.76.

Woodside Petroleum Limited gained 25 cents to $37.70.

David Jones Limited increased 1 cent to $2.79 and Breville Group jumped 20 cents to $7.20. Woolworths increased 32 cents to $34.71.

Mirvac Group added 2 cents to $1.79. Lend Lease slumped 19 cents to $10.81.

Westpac slipped 27 cents to $31.40, Commonwealth rose 0.3% to $72.83 and National Australia Bank down 0.1% to $33.05 and ANZ fell 0.4% to $29.86.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited dropped 14 cents or 3.9% $3.45 after the iron ore producer Brockman Mining Limited is looking for the right to access the company’s railway in Australia''s remote Pilbara region.

Sydney Airport Holdings Limited rose 3 cents to $3.69 after the company expects to pay a full-year dividend of about 22.5 cents a share.

The airport authority said total number of international passengers grew 2% to 4.2 million in April. Domestic travelers rose 3.7% in April and 8.1 million for the year so far. More than 12 million passengers passed through airport in this year.

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited plunged 8 cents or 17.4% to 38 cents after the airline estimated earnings for the year to drop lower than the last year, the third annual decline in five years.